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Hearing Set in Tulsa for Ex-Megachurch Employee

Tulsa County Jail Booking photo

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A former janitor at a Tulsa megachurch who is charged with sending lewd Facebook messages to a 14-year-old girl is due in court.

A pre-trial hearing for 23-year-old Israel Castillo is set for Wednesday morning in Tulsa County District Court in advance of his scheduled Sept. 3 trial.

Castillo was a janitor at the 17,000-member Victory Christian Center in south Tulsa when he allegedly sent the messages to the girl.

Another former church janitor — Chris Denman — was sentenced last year to 55 years in prison for raping a 13-year-old girl in a church stairwell. The girl's mother has filed a civil lawsuit against the worldwide ministry.

Several church employees came under fire last fall for waiting two weeks to report the stairwell rape to the authorities.