Church Teacher Convicted of Rapes

A Santa Monica man was convicted Wednesday of raping two women he met at church functions, attacking them in their homes and then asking them to rely on their faith to forgive him.

“This defendant is a predator who preys upon forgiving, sympathetic women and portrays himself to be a man of the word of God,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna Lebowitz said.

“He was using the church as a shield and a protector to his acts because he told the one victim: ‘Are you going to pray for me, or are you going to expose me?’ ”

Simon St. Peter Pryce’s defense during the two-week trial was to imply the sex was consensual. He did not testify.

After deliberating three days, jurors convicted Pryce, 28, of four counts of sexual assault and four counts of burglary in the 1997 and 1998 attacks.

Pryce, who five years ago was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman on a date, faces a maximum 100 years in prison at a Dec. 16 sentencing hearing, Lebowitz said.

Pryce met both victims through the Church of the Harvest, 2600 S. La Brea Ave., where Lebowitz said he taught religion to 10- to 12-year-olds on Sundays.

Although Lebowitz said Pryce was a Sunday School teacher, church Elder Louis Mellini said Pryce was just a member and did not work or teach Sunday School at the church.

One victim, a 28-year-old Van Nuys woman, said she met Pryce on a church committee.

In August 1998, she said Pryce called her late one night, saying he had some problems and needed to talk.

She said Pryce overpowered her almost immediately.

She said she called police, who while investigating learned Pryce had reportedly twice raped another member of the congregation.

That victim, a 39-year-old Los Angeles woman, said she met Pryce at the church and began a friendship.

During a visit to her home in June 1997, he overpowered and raped her after watching a religious show and flipping through the Bible, she said.

Afterward, she said, Pryce told her he was sorry. She said she forgave him and prayed for him.

“He made the comment that we can handle this between the two of us, that we can start over and he loves me as a sister in Christ,’ ” she said at one hearing.

A month later, she said, Pryce arrived at her house in the middle of the night and said he needed to talk with her.

He again raped her, she said.

She said she had been embarrassed to come forward earlier because she had fallen for his apology and was victimized a second time.

“She is really a person who felt the defendant had a higher level of credibility and trustworthiness due to his church involvement,” Lebowitz said.

“She gave him a chance and he violated her.”