August 2000 PAEDOPHILE JAILED A JEHOVAH S Witness who carried out a series of sexual assaults on young girls has been jailed. Rudolfo Albert Deleon, 24, of Esplanade Gardens, Scarborough, admitted 14 charges of indecency. He was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison. His sentence was handed down by Judge Paul Hoffman at Leeds Crown Court yesterday. Church elder Chris Atkinson told the Evening News: Child abuse is abhorrent to Jehovah s Witnesses and no-one involved with this sort of crime has any place among our membership. Mr Deleon is now in the hands of the authorities, where he belongs. The paedophile was arrested in March on suspicion of offences against young girls. Deleon, an American national, was subsequently charged with 28 counts of indecent assault. He pleaded guilty to 14 of these in June. For a period of at least 12 months before he was exposed he had been molesting girls. Judge Hoffman said: You are a young man with a lecherous disposition. The court was told Deleon came to Scarborough in 1998 after meeting a Jehovah s Witness from the town who was visiting America. In addition to his prison sentence, Deleon was told he must sign on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.