
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994                   TAG: 9404080166
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: CLIFTON FORGE                                LENGTH: Short

MINISTER PLEADS NO CONTEST TO SEX CHARGES

A former pastor pleaded no contest Thursday to eight misdemeanor counts of aggravated sexual battery against six juvenile girls and was given a five-year suspended jail sentence.

Under terms of a plea agreement, Clifton Forge Circuit Court Judge Duncan M. Byrd Jr. placed the Rev. William C. Mattox Jr. on three years' unsupervised probation. Mattox also was fined $2,000 and was ordered to continue receiving counseling.

Mattox, 63, was pastor of Clifton Forge Baptist Church for about 25 years. He resigned last year after being indicted.

The charges stem from fondling between 1971 and 1980. The victims were 6 to 9 years old. - Associated Press

by CNB