A former Little Rock youth pastor admitted Monday in federal court that he transported minors across state lines for sex, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Robert Shiflet, 50, now of Denton, Texas, pleaded guilty to two charges of transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Cody Hiland, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, called Shiflet's crimes "deplorable."
The first incident occurred in 1997 when Shiflet, then a youth pastor in Denton, lured a 15-year-old girl away from her group during a camping trip near the Buffalo River in Arkansas and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.
The second incident happened in 2002 while Shiflet was a youth pastor in Little Rock, according to the indictment. During that incident, he had sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl during a charter bus ride to a church event in Panama City, Fla., according to the U.S. attorney's office. Investigators said Shiflet continued to sexually abuse the same victim during the rest of 2002 and part of 2003.
Shiflet had asked the girl to ride with him on his bus to Panama City instead of on the bus with her friends, investigators said.
"This defendant took advantage of his position of trust as a mentor to young people and instead used his power to isolate and sexually abuse them," Hiland said in a written statement Monday. "This predatory behavior is never acceptable, but it is particularly disturbing when the offender is a youth pastor."
Shiflet was indicted in June following an investigation by the FBI. He originally had entered a plea of innocent. Two of his original charges, including one count of coercion of a minor to engage in sexual activity, were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea, authorities said.
No sentencing date has been set in the case.
Transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, according to federal law.