Former Lexington pastor sentenced to 13 years in rape of minor

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A former Lexington pastor is facing over a decade in prison on charges related to the rape of a young church member.

According to the office of Attorney General Russell Coleman, 48-year-old Zachary King, the former executive pastor of LexCity Church, pleaded guilty to seven felony counts in Fayette Circuit Court on Monday.

Officials say King pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities, first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor with a victim under 18, third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse.

According to Coleman’s office, the victim, who attended King’s church, was a minor when the abuse occurred.

A Fayette County Grand Jury indicted King in August 2024, the attorney general’s office states.

As part of the plea deal, officials say King received a recommended sentence of 13 years and must register as a lifetime sex offender. He has also been ordered not to have any contact with the victim for the next 10 years and will not object to a renewal of that no contact order.

“This so-called pastor’s abuse of his position of spiritual trust to prey on a young victim was heartbreaking,” Coleman said. “We are sending this predator to prison to protect more Kentuckians from horrific abuse.”

The Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations investigated the case with support from the Lexington Police Department. Assistant attorneys General Todd Willard and Amanda Morgan prosecuted the case. Erica Paske with the Attorney General’s Office of Victims Advocacy provided services to the victim.

King will be sentenced June 4 at 11:30 a.m.