ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990                   TAG: 9005110200
SECTION: A-6 NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE:    EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, S.C.                                LENGTH: Short

EX-PTL OFFICIAL ADMITS LYING TO GRAND JURY

John Wesley Fletcher, who set up the fateful tryst between PTL founder Jim Bakker and former church secretary Jessica Hahn, has pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury about the purpose of the meeting.

"It was a close call," Fletcher's court-appointed attorney, George Laughrun, said Thursday. "I was ready to go to trial, but he wanted to get it behind him."

Fletcher, the last of six defendants to be indicted in the celebrated PTL scandal, pleaded guilty to a single perjury count. He entered his plea on Tuesday.

The plea was accepted by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Potter, who is expected to sentence Fletcher later this month. - Associated Press 


 by CNB