Former minister pleads guilty to child molestation

CUMMING - A former youth minister at a small Gainesville church has pleaded guilty to child molestation.

38-year-old Phillip Glenn Terrell was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison, 15 to serve and the rest on probation. He must also register as a sex offender and is barred from working with children.

Terrell told Judge David Dickinson he lives with regret for molesting the then-14-year-old son of a church member at two Forsyth County locations in 2006.

Terrell still faces charges in Hall County of molesting the victim and another boy at Emmanuel Baptist Church and is expected to plead guilty to those charges next month.

Forsyth County District Attorney Sandra Partridge says prosecutors agreed to a negotiated plea agreement to spare the victim from having to testify.