Westlake Pastor Accused of Molesting Adopted Daughter Gets Probation

[image-1]Paul Endrei, 56, the founding pastor at Westlake's Church on the Rise, was sentenced yesterday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court to three years of probation on child endangerment charges. Endrei was also forbidden from being a pastor ever again.

Endrei was accused of sexually assaulting his adopted daughter between 2005-2013, accusations (and their aftermath) that were chronicled in Scene's 2014 story "Father Under Fire."

As part of Endrei's plea deal, the charges of sexual battery and gross sexual imposition were dismissed. Endrei will have to serve three years in prison if he violates the terms of his probation, said Lorain County Judge James Miraldi, at the sentencing.

Endrei was most recently in the news in September. He was scheduled to appear at a Donald Trump event — the quote unquote "Midwest Values and Vision Pastors Leadership Conference" — and would have been one of several local religious leaders to "lay hands" on the (at that time) presidential candidate and pray for him.

The UK's Daily Mail reported that Endrei was "hurriedly disinvited" once his "politically nuclear legal troubles" were learned by event organizers.