In 1994, when he met the then-12-year-old victim, Joseph Robert Hall was a pastor at a church near Stone Chimney, said Chris Thomas, one of the prosecutors. Hall told investigators he began the relationship when the victim was 12 and began engaging in sexual activity with her "when she became what he considered an appropriate age," the news release said.
That age was 14, according to the news release. Hall was 42 years old at the time.
A former pastor pleaded guilty Monday in Brunswick County Superior Court to a statutory sex offense, according to a news release from the Brunswick County District Attorney's Office.