Kenton pastor denied appeal in child molestation case

LIMA - An appellate court has upheld a judge's ruling to not let a Kenton pastor withdraw his pleas on child molestation charges.

Paul Leffler was sentenced in September to 28 months in prison for sex charges involving two teenage girls. Leffler used his position as a pastor of the Freedom of the Spirit Church in Kenton to get close to the girls. Both were having family problems when he offered to counsel them, which a prosecutor said was his way to reach them to satisfy his sexual desires.

Leffler pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition and no contest to two counts of contributing to the unruliness of a minor. Soon after his plea, he changed his mind and wanted to take his case to trial but a Hardin County judge ruled against it, which was the subject of his appeal to the 3rd Ohio District Court of Appeals.