Ex-Minister Is Sentenced

CATHLAMET, Wahkiakum County - An ex-minister who served as a Wahkiakum County sheriff's chaplain has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree rape. The sentence is well above the standard range of 15 months to 20 months.

David Wayne Gerlach, 58, was accused of using religious, emotional and physical threats to intimidate a 13-year-old girl into a sexual relationship that lasted 14 years.

Now 27, the woman told investigators she objected to Gerlach's advances from the beginning, but he threatened her physically and emotionally, saying he would make her life "a living hell" and invoking a biblical argument to make her have sex.

On March 3, Gerlach attempted suicide by slashing his wrist in a hotel room in Hermiston, Ore.

Gerlach had been pastor of the Puget Island First Free Church for 10 years. As chaplain for the jail and sheriff's office, he sometimes led Bible studies for prisoners. He also contributed more than a dozen columns to the weekly "Minister's Corner" feature in The (Longview) Daily News.

Gerlach initially was charged with five counts of third-degree rape. In a plea agreement he pleaded guilty to two counts last month.