Former youth minister gets 22 months for sex crimes

LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — A Lincoln County minister has taken a plea deal after being accused of taking advantage of a 13-year-old.

Brandon Carter’s attorney said the former youth minister and school teacher admitted his crime during a session with a counselor and now is ready to accept his punishment.

Carter quietly left court in handcuffs Wednesday.

The former youth minister will spend the next 22 months in prison for taking indecent liberties with a 13-year-old girl.

His accuser, who is now in her early 20s, sat yards away from Carter during Wednesday’s hearing.

Before the sentencing, she spoke to him in court.

"One question is burning my mind -- Why?  Why me? Why did you do it?" she said.

She cried as she explained that Carter was a role model to her.

"I loved him just like a brother," she said.

She said that changed nine years ago the night he sexually assaulted her at his home. She said she kept the secret for nearly a decade.

Then Carter, a former East Lincoln high school and middle school music teacher, became the youth and music minister at Zion Baptist Church in Cherryville.

She worried that his access to children, would give him the chance to hurt someone else.

"I just want him to get help and I want to be safe," she said.

Investigators said they found no evidence of other victims at the church or at the schools where Carter taught music.

Carter's attorney said he admits to the crime and he is ready to go to prison.

Carter whispered a word of thanks to his supporters as deputies led him out of court.

Carter's pastor at Zion Baptist said he never had any problems at the church. He said he's sad to learn Carter will spend the next two years in prison.

Carter resigned his post as the youth and music minister for Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cherryville just after his arrest last March.

WSOC