Former Church Youth Leader Convicted of Sexually Abusing Boys

A Las Vegas man has been convicted of sexually abusing boys while he was a youth leader at a Gaithersburg church in the 1980s, reports WTOP.

Nathaniel Morales, 56, was convicted Thursday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. He was found guilty on three counts of sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of sexual offense.

Prosecutors say Morales worked with youth ministries and conducted Bible studies for Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg. He was accused of abusing three boys from 1983 to 1991 at group sleepovers and in their homes.

One of the victims reported the abuse to Montgomery County Police in 2009, WTOP says.

Morales faces up to 85 years in prison at sentencing Aug. 14.

According to a February 2013 Patch story, church leaders said when the charges were filed: "Morales, though a church member at the time, was never a pastor in Covenant Life Church nor a teacher in Covenant Life School. Rather, Mr. Morales was a teacher employed by an independent private school in Montgomery County not affiliated with Covenant Life Church or School. … Covenant Life Church had no knowledge of such abuse until many years after the abuse when an adult who had been victimized as a child came forward."