Jury acquits minister of statutory rape

MARSHFIELD, Mo. -- Jurors acquitted a Baptist minister from southwest Missouri Tuesday of charges he raped a teenage relative.

Webster County jurors deliberated for about two hours before returning the verdict in the case against the Rev. Steven Rear, of Marshield. Rear, pastor of Westport Baptist Church in Springfield, had been charged with five counts of statutory rape involving a girl under the age of 14.

Charges were filed after the girl, then 20, told authorities she had intercourse with Rear over a three-year period that began when she was 13. Rear's attorney said it was an unbelievable story and there was no physical evidence of rape.