Terry Reed had already been convicted twice before a Louisiana jury handed down its verdict in May. The 66-year-old pastor from Terrytown, just outside New Orleans, was found guilty on May 6 of two counts of third-degree rape and two counts of molestation of a juvenile. On June 18, Jefferson Parish Judge Ray Steib sentenced him to 80 years in prison. The jury reached that verdict in less than an hour.
Reed was sentenced to 25 years for each of the two third-degree rape charges, to be served at hard labor without the possibility of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and 15 years for each molestation charge. Judge Steib ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
Reed’s prior record stretches back nearly three decades. He pleaded guilty to indecent behavior with a juvenile in 1997 and again in 2017 to indecent behavior with a juvenile and molestation of a juvenile. He was a registered sex offender when the most recent crimes were committed.
How Reed gained access to his victims
Reed operated his church, Vessels of Christ Ministry, out of his home in Terrytown. Prosecutors said he had a specific pattern: identify troubled boys, earn the trust of their families, and bring the teenagers into his residence on East Monterey Drive…