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A former Randolph County pastor pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy Thursday.

Stanley Robert Daniel, 59, former pastor of El Bethel Church and director of the Pearls of Promise Religious School for Girls near Roanoke was arrested in May 2007 after an investigation sparked by a complaint made by a student at the school.

Pearls of Promise was founded in 2004 as a boarding school for girls ages 10 to 18 who had been abused or abandoned.

Daniel pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing the girl as well as two misdemeanors for sending explicit pictures to her, according to Fifth Circuit Judge Tom Young.

Daniel, whose trial was scheduled to start Monday, was sentenced to two consecutive 20-year terms but could spend as few as five years in prison before he is eligible for an early release program. He is sentenced to 12 months each for both of the misdemeanors which he will serve during the felony sentence.

Under the conditions of the plea agreement, Daniel is scheduled to turn himself in July 1.

Once he is out of prison, Daniel will have to register as a sex offender and is required to give up any position in the ministry that would put him near children, according to Young.