Surprise plea: Pastor set for porn trial takes Alford
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After three years and no trial, Gregory Briehl enters a plea that doesn’t admit guilt, but admits there’s enough evidence to convict.PHOTO COURTESY GREGORY BRIEHL
Gregory Briehl, the former spiritual leader and counselor who was arrested and convicted in 2006 for illegal filming and who was slated for trial September 1, entered a surprise Alford plea August 26. Briehl pled to one count of possession of child pornography, the Daily Progress reports.
The former church leader was originally charged with 20 counts, but the actual age of the females on his computer was an issue. Albemarle Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jon Zug told the Progress that compared to other porn he’s seen since, Briehl’s are “tame,” and that he’ll no longer prosecute such cases unless it’s obvious they’re children.
Briehl, who once climbed a tree to film a female undressing in his house and served 60 days on the surreptitious filming charges, was sentenced to five years suspended and will do no jail time, but will lose his counseling license.
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In another recent high-profile porn case, white supremacist Kevin Strom got 23 months in April 2008 when he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of child porn possession.
I forget…whatever happened to John Geoghan?
Anybody else notice that it’s always the holier-than-thou preachers and “spiritual leaders” who get caught in kiddie porn, homosexual, prostitution and drug scandals? Their so-called “spirituality” and desire to lead a flock of sheep is a mask that overcompensates for their own inner darkside and perverse nature. They figure the more holy the exterior, the better to fool people about what’s going on with the interior. After seeing enough of these sorts of stories emerge over the years, I now at this point assume there’s probably something wrong with most preachers and spiritual gurus. And why anybody would want to be “led” by some fallible human is beyond me, but that’s a side topic. To that I say - be your own leader. Don’t look to people like this to be some guiding light in your life. Besides, his “Crazy Eyes” say it all in the above photo.
Probably because it gets more media attention and outrage due to the higher expectations from clergy. I do know there are a lot of deviant individuals in every community.
Did you know that he named all of his kids some version of the name Christian, like Krister and Christopher? That should have been a BIG sign.
People who make the biggest deal about being Christian and moral usually are the ones hiding or overcompensating.
My problem is people think I do more bad stuff then I really do. YO he climbed a tree to get someone on film! I like to just bust in and then act like I didn’t know they were naked, with women of legal age of course.