78-year-old man gets life in prison for fondling teen girl in League City church

LEAGUE CITY, Texas (KTRK) -- A 78-year-old man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for fondling a teenage girl.

Charles Ray Martin was accused of touching a 15-year-old's girl breast repeatedly during a Sunday morning service at a League City church in May 2015. The victim said she was in the church's kitchen when Martin came up behind her, put his arm around her and squeezed her breast. The victim initially thought it could have been an accident, but then Martin reportedly did it a second time. The victim told him to stop and pushed him away.

Martin reportedly told the girl not to tell anyone because they could both get into trouble. The family reported the incident to church officials, who were aware that Martin was a registered sex offender. The church made a police report of the incident.

In a one day bench trial, Judge Kerry Neves found Martin guilty of indecency with a child by sexual contact. Martin faced a punishment of automatic life in prison because of a felony enhancement for a 1998 conviction on a aggravated sexual assault of a child charge.

Martin will not be eligible for parole until at least 30 years of his sentence has been served.

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