Former Church Youth Leader to Spend Rest of Life in Prison

A Las Vegas man convicted of sexually abusing boys while he was a youth leader at a Gaithersburg church in the 1980s was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for his offenses.

Nathaniel Morales, 56, was convicted in May in Montgomery County Circuit Court, reports WTOP. 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.

“Sexual predators of young boys are unacceptable in our society. Using his position as teacher, singer and youth mentor as well as his purported faith as leverage against kids as young as 11 years- ld; Mr. Morales stole the innocence of these children and ruined their sense of trust for life,” said Ramon Korionoff, Public Affairs Director for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, reports Montgomery Community Media. “Today, justice is served and now Daniel Morales will likely have the rest of his life in prison to think about how he ruined the lives of these four boys – now grown men.”

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.”

»PHOTO: Nathaniel Morales Courtesy of Montgomery Community Media