LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — The attorney for a Pennsylvania youth pastor who staged a church youth group kidnapping as a lesson on religious persecution says his client will fight the charges.
Andrew Jordan blindfolded the teens in March, bound their wrists and drove them in a cargo van to a dingy basement where they overheard mock torture.
His attorney, William DeStefano, says there's no evidence anyone hurt the girl whose complaint led to charges of assault and false imprisonment against the Glad Tidings Assembly of God youth pastor.
Dauphin County prosecutors say the half-hour ordeal included interrogation and staged torture using power tools.
DeStefano tells the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era (http://bit.ly/PrneGH ) he can challenge the false imprisonment charge because the girl never tried to flee her fake captors.
___
Information from: Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era , http://lancasteronline.com