A Baptist minister from Cleveland Heights admitted Thursday that he molested two children, including one of his wife's relatives and an unrelated member of his church's flock who was 12 years old and deaf.

The Rev. Wayne Biles, former pastor of Mount Ararat Missionary Baptist Church at 3793 East 131st St., pleaded guilty Tuesday to rape, gross sexual imposition and kidnapping. His plea deal calls for 17 years of incarceration when Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Hollie Gallagher sentences him July 31.

Biles could not be reached to comment.

He began a pattern of molesting his wife's relative about 13 years ago, "as soon as [he and his bride] returned home from their honeymoon," said Assistant County Prosecutor Pinkey Carr.

The victim, also 12 at the time, told her mother, who advised her to keep quiet about it and pray, Carr said. That victim, now 25 and married, complied until last year, when she told Cleveland Heights police.

Unbeknownst to her, authorities had just charged Biles with assaulting a 12-year-old girl. Carr said that girl's parents had sought marriage counseling during the summer of 2005 from Biles. The minister suggested the couple, from Beachwood, leave their children at his home overnight to spend time alone together, Carr said. That night, he molested the girl.

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