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Updated: 9:01 AM Jul 16, 2008
Former Pastor Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault
"I feel like a free man, like a totally free man and he's not." --Doug Guillen, victim
Posted: 10:08 PM Jul 15, 2008Reporter: Mary Rinzel Email Address: mary.rinzel@weau.com |
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A former Rice Lake pastor is in jail Tuesday night after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a teenager. Prosecutors say the attack happened more than 20 years ago.
Angel Toro pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts of forth degree sexual assault. He was originally charged with four counts of third degree sexual assault and two counts of exposing himself. Those are all felonies. A jury trial was also set for this month.
Tuesday his victim says he's just glad it's over.
"How long is he getting? Because I’ve done 21 to life."
Doug Guillen says he's waited all 21 years for this day; the day he saw the man who raped him sent to jail.
"I feel like a free man, like a totally free man and he's not," Guillen says.
According to the criminal complaint, in 1987 Toro, a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Rice Lake recruited 17-year-old Doug Guillen to help him fix a fence. That's when Guillen says Toro sexually assaulted him.
Judge Eugene Harrington sentenced the 57-year-old to 18 months in jail and three years probation. Before heading to jail, Toro apologized.
"I have asked God to forgive me. Now, I ask the Guillen family to forgive me," Toro told the court.
It was an apology Guillen didn't want to hear. He walked out of the courtroom.
"When I wept, he didn't hear me. I didn't hear him today. I didn't want to hear. Talk is cheap and I’m not buying," Guillen says.
Now, Guillen and his wife are heading back to their home in Florida, hoping to move forward.
"After today, we're going to put all of that behind us and be that happy couple that we were before,” says Doug's Wife Tricia Guillen.
"I was picking up the pieces all the way here from Florida and I think I have them all. Now, on the way back, I’m done. I'm done,” Doug Guillen says. “I feel like a free man… a totally free man.”
Doug Guillen says he hopes his story will inspire other victims to speak up, especially children.
Toro will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.
Click here for more information on why Toro was able to be sentenced 15 years after the statute of limitations on his crime was up.
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