Man Prosecutors Say Claimed To Be Holy Ghost Gets Prison In Rape Case

The leader of a Montana-based religious sect has been sentenced to six years to life in prison after he was convicted in Utah of raping a 15-year-old girl and ordering her to have sex with another leader.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/KuKvs8 ) Terrill Dalton was sentenced Friday in Salt Lake City for two counts of rape. He is president of the Church of the Firstborn of the General Assembly of Heaven. The sect was in Magna, Utah, before moving to Fort Hall, Idaho, and then Montana.

Prosecutors say Dalton convinced the girl in 2005 to have sex with him by telling her he was “the Holy Ghost” and she’d receive blessings. They say he told her to have sex with another leader because it was God’s will.

Dalton’s maintained he’s innocent.

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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com