DULUTH – Jackson Gatlin, dressed in a dark suit with his hands cuffed behind his back, was led by authorities from the courtroom Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to felony-level criminal sexual conduct in a case where numerous women have come forward with similar stories of being sexually assaulted as girls when he was their youth leader here at The Vineyard Church.

As part of a deal, Gatlin pleaded guilty to one count and on four others entered an Alford plea — in which he maintains innocence, but admits there is sufficient evidence for him to be found guilty during a trial. The third-floor courtroom at the St. Louis County courthouse was at capacity for the hearing, with several of his victims sitting together in a row. Gatlin, 36, will be sentenced during separate hearings November 25-26, with all the impact statements during the first.

He will likely serve 13 years in prison and have to register as a sex offender.

Civil charges are expected to be filed soon against Gatlin — in addition to his father Michael Gatlin, who was a senior pastor at the church, his mother Brenda who was also in a position of power, The Vineyard Church in Duluth and Vineyard USA, according to Spencer Kuvin, a Florida-based attorney who has represented victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Cosby. There will be 10 complaints against each entity, nine from victims and one from a mother whose daughter died by suicide.

“The church should be a place where people feel secure — a sanctuary to find God, practice your faith and find support within your community,” Kuvin said during a press conference after the hearing, sitting alongside the victims in a conference room at a downtown law office. “Unfortunately, the church became a living hell for these young girls.”

Neither of Gatlin’s parents were in the courtroom on Wednesday.

As part of the Alford plea, the prosecutors went through each victim’s allegations and the testimony that would have occurred during a trial. It showed a pattern of Gatlin, then in his early 20s, establishing closeness with 11 to 16 year old girls that extended beyond just the church.

His text messages went from friendly to flirty to sexual. He brought them to his bedroom in his family home or drove them in his car or made them sit next to him on a bus ride. He touched them or made them touch him. He bound their wrists or otherwise restrained them. He raped them and at least in one case laughed when they told him to stop.