Minister sentenced to life for child sex abuse

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – A Tulsa minister has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Gregory Ivan Hawkins was sentenced Monday in Tulsa County District Court after pleading guilty in June to two counts of child sex abuse and no contest to five additional counts of child sex abuse. He was sentenced to seven life terms with the sentences to be served at the same time.

The 56-year-old Hawkins apologized in court. He will be eligible for parole in 38 years.

Police say the girl reported that the abuse began when she was 14 and that Hawkins fathered her child.

Hawkins is also charged with lewd molestation and second-degree rape in Osage County and is due to enter a plea there on Sept. 9.