KGMI News
By Alex Gray

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) – The former music teacher at the Bellingham Baptist Church gets five years in prison for molesting a girl for years.

The Bellingham Herald reports Michael Bane’s sentence is the same as the church’s youth pastor, Christopher Trent, who was sentenced last month for molesting a different girl for years.

Police reports show Bane confessed to pastor Josh Carter that he’d been sexually abusing the girl for about 8 years.

Carter told Bane to turn himself in.

Carter says both Bane and Trent underwent background checks yearly and the church hosted classes on how to spot child sex abuse, but the men abused these girls despite the safeguards.

A Christian consulting group is assessing whether or not the church can do more.