FRANKFORT, Ky. — A former pastor in Estill County has been found guilty in a decades-old sexual assault involving a minor.

On Wednesday, a jury found Samuel McKinney, 60, guilty of first-degree rape against a child under 12 years old. 

The victim alleged McKinney began abusing her about once a month from May 1982 to December 1985 and stopped when she was about 11 years old, according to Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman.

The woman, now 50, reported the abuse in 2023 after learning her abuser was a pastor at a church in Irvine, Kentucky. 

He has since left the church he pastored.

Coleman says the jury recommended a 20-year prison sentence. Under state law, he will be required to serve 85 percent of the sentence before he’s eligible for parole. McKinney will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

“In our commonwealth, there is no statute of limitation for felony charges,” Coleman said in a statement Friday. “Her bravery was critical to putting this criminal behind bars.”

McKinney will be sentenced on June 3, 2025.