Retired Episcopal Priest Guilty Of Sex Charges
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- A retired Episcopal priest who owns a bar in northwestern Montana has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two girls in Maryland.
Officials in Cecil County, Md., tell the Daily Inter Lake that the Rev. Donald W. Belcher pleaded guilty to two counts of child sexual abuse Friday. A plea agreement calls for two other charges to be dismissed.
The 82-year-old was arrested in Yaak in December and extradited to Maryland in January. He was charged with molesting a 15-year-old girl in June 2006 and an 8-year-old girl in September 2010 in North East, Md.
Belcher served as a minister in Troy and Libby from 1996-2001 and was vicar of a church in Street, Md., from 2001-2007. He and his wife purchased the Dirty Shame Saloon in Yaak in 2006.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)