Man Guilty of Raping Women He Met at Church

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,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna Lebowitz. “He was using the church as a shield . . . 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 that the sex was consensual. He didn’t testify.

Superior Court jurors deliberated for three days before convicting Pryce, 28, of four counts of sexual assault and four counts of burglary for the 1997 and 1998 attacks.

Pryce, convicted five years ago of sexually assaulting a woman on a date, will be sentenced Dec. 16 and faces a maximum of 100 years in prison, Lebowitz said.

Pryce met both victims through the Church of the Harvest, 2600 S. La Brea Ave.

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

One victim said that in August 1998, he called her late one night, saying he had some problems and needed to talk. She said Pryce overpowered her almost immediately.

She called the police who, while investigating the rape, discovered Pryce had raped another member of the congregation on two separate occasions.

That woman said Pryce overpowered and raped her at her home in June 1997 after coming over to watch a religious show and read the Bible. Afterward, she said, he told her he was sorry, and she forgave him and prayed for him.