A Maryland man whose daughter was sexually assaulted 28 years ago, when she was 15, said he feared there would be more victims when he discovered the assailant was pastor of a Fayette County church.

“When I pulled up his picture at his church a couple of years ago, I just wanted to scream, ‘This man is dangerous!' ” the father said of Ray Scott Teets, a physical therapist-turned-pastor whose clients once included professional football and baseball players.

The Tribune-Review does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Teets, 67, of South Union on Monday pleaded no contest in Fayette County to indecent assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor and attempted indecent assault in exchange for a prison sentence of 3 to 6 years.

Teets was the pastor of Fallen Timbers Community Chapel in Springhill when state police in November accused him of attempted indecent assault against an 11-year-old girl who attended his church.

Police said her family broke ties with the church and warned Teets to stay away from her. He was captured on security-camera surveillance taking the girl into a woodshed. The girl in January testified Teets tried to touch her.

Police in January filed additional charges against Teets involving three more girls. Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli said they were between the ages of 5 and 8. One of those girls was assaulted between 1999 and 2000 at the church, police said.

No one from the church returned a phone call seeking comment on Monday.

Contacted by phone, the father of the Maryland victim said his daughter did not get justice when Teets' case went to court in Anne Arundel County, Md.

“He got a slap on the wrist,” the man said. “Probation, and no time in prison. But they did manage to take away his physical therapy license.”

In 1992, The Baltimore Sun reported that Teets was a physical therapist who treated Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Colts athletes before he pleaded guilty in 1988 to sexually assaulting the 15-year-old girl. She had been one of Teets' patients.

The Sun reported Teets was given a two-year suspended sentence, placed on five years' probation and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service. Teets lost his physical therapist's license and, following a 1992 civil trial, he was ordered to pay the girl $500,000 in punitive damages.

A judge later cut the monetary award by “90 percent,” her father said. He questioned how Teets was able to obtain a master of divinity degree in 1993 from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

“They dropped the ball,” the father said. “He walked into that seminary, got himself a Bible, got himself a church, got around families and children, and guess what happened? He did it again.”

James A. Smith Sr., a seminary spokesman, said in a prepared statement that the school was unaware of Teets' background.

“The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary does not require a criminal background check for admission, but does require all applicants to be affirmed by a recognized local congregation,” the statement said. “The congregation must formally recommend the applicant as an individual in whom it has confidence of a call to Christian ministry and evidence of Christian character.”

Smith declined additional comment.

The Maryland victim is now an adult, but she continues to recover, her father said. He said he wants Teets to be sentenced to more than the three to six years he faces under the plea deal.

“I hope he can spend the rest of his life in jail for the damage he has done to these little girls,” the father said. “I hope they send him to one of Pennsylvania's finest prisons, not a lightweight prison, but somewhere where somebody who has a daughter or two can take care of Mr. Teets.”

Teets, who is in the Fayette County jail in lieu of $450,000 bail, will be evaluated to determine whether he meets the criteria for a sexually violent predator prior to sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

Liz Zemba is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-601-2166 or lzemba@tribweb.com.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---