Former pastor pleads guilty to child sex crimes
Former Baptist pastor and El Centro resident Mark Quinn Anderson pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony charges related to having engaged in sex crimes with two separate minors in 2014 and 2015.
Seven other felony charges related to sex crimes with a minor were dismissed against Anderson as a result of him having agreed to a plea deal.
Anderson potentially faces three years and eight months in state prison as a result of his conviction for one count of engaging Anderson in lewd acts
with a minor, as well as one count of arranging to meet with a minor for the purposes of committing a lewd act.
The plea agreement proposed a potential three-year prison term in connection to Anderson having arranged in June 2016 to meet with a minor for the purposes of committing a lewd act.
An eight month prison term, to run consecutively with the three-year term, was proposed for Anderson having engaged in lewd acts with a second minor on two separate occasions between March 2014 and March 2015.
Anderson will also be required to register for life as a sexual offender as part of the plea agreement.
County Superior Court Judge Christopher J. Plourd also ordered Anderson to report to the county Probation Department in the next few days. Failure to do so would void the plea agreement, prompting the court to impose a sentence as if no plea agreement was reached, Plourd said.
Anderson is scheduled to return to the El Centro courthouse on Sept. 20, during which time victim impact statements are expected to be given, said county Deputy District Attorney Kevin Cayton.
Anderson had originally been arrested June 6 by Brawley police after having contacted a 14-year-old female for the purpose of committing lewd acts.
Anderson was again arrested Dec. 30 in Los Angeles after El Centro police had issued an arrest warrant in connection to Anderson having engaged in lewd acts with a female minor, and also having persuaded the minor to participate in the production of child porn or engage in sexual acts on five different occasions in 2016, according to the criminal complaint.
Anderson had also been arrested by Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies in February 2016 for six felony counts alleging sex crimes with a minor. A Riverside County jury subsequently found him not guilty of the charges in July 2016, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office stated.
The remaining seven charges that were dismissed by the Imperial County District Attorney’s Office include one count of engaging in a lewd act with a minor, one count of possessing child pornography and five counts related to compelling a victim to pose for or engage in sexual acts.