Mom sentenced for taking daughter, 11, to have sex

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June 29, 2012

Mom sentenced for taking daughter, 11, to have sex

Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com The Tribune-Democrat Fri Jun 29, 2012, 11:41 PM EDT

BEDFORD — An Alum Bank woman who police said took her 11-year-old daughter to a Bedford motel to have sex with a traveling evangelist will spend the next two to five years in prison.

The sentence handed down by Bedford County Judge Thomas Ling also ordered Gazella Oldham, 53, to spend three years on probation after her maximum prison sentence is over.

Bedford County Public Defender Karen Hickey described Oldham as “gullible.”

Hickey said the woman misplaced her trust in the Rev. Walter Bradshaw, who police say sexually molested the girl when she was in fifth grade.

In April, Oldham pleaded no contest to charges of criminal solicitation and endangering the welfare of a child, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of corruption of minors.

Bradshaw, 63, of Lexington, N.C., traveled throughout the Cambria-Somerset region as a minister.

He has been in the Bedford County Jail since his arrest in late 2010.

Bradshaw is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 19 and 20.

The incident at the Janey Lynn Motel in Bedford Township is alleged to have taken place in 2009.

However, it was not until 2010 that the girl told an adult.

Oldham maintained she was taking her daughter to the motel so Bradshaw could provide counseling.

Authorities said Oldham knew the preacher was interested in sleeping with the girl.

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