Florida Church Founder Bishop Gentle Groover's Son Found Guilty of Child Rape
The son of a church elder will spend the next 10 years in prison for repeatedly molesting a teenage boy inside the Jacksonville church his father helped found.
Paul Keith Groover, 58, pleaded guilty Thursday to sexual battery and was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud. He will get credit for the 839 days he's already served.
Groover is the son of Bishop Gentle Groover Sr., a founding member of the Greater Refuge Temple, an Apostolic church off Lem Turner Road.
As part of the plea deal, two other charges of sexual battery and one charge of lewd or lascivious molestation were dropped.
Groover, who worked as a janitor in the church, molested the boy when he was underage from 2003 to 2007. The Times-Union does not identify sex crimes victims.
Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi told Soud that the court wanted to prosecute Groover on all the charges and seek a longer prison sentence, but the victim had asked for a plea deal and didn't want to relive what happened to him by testifying at a trial.
Soud indicated he didn't think Groover was getting enough time in prison. If he'd been found guilty by a jury, Soud could have sentenced him to 30 years.
"It's only because of the victim's request that this court is accepting this disposition," Soud said. "But it's an understandable request since it would compound what he's had to endure."
Click here to read more.
