Will Swaim and Rachel Powers are doing a fine job of covering the latest local developments in the Catholic Church’s pedophilia scandal. But in the interest of fairness, I’d like to point out that it’s not just priests who act on these illegal urges– members of secular organizations which promote conservative values sexually molest minors, too.

OC Weekly’s Scott Moxley, the reporter who brought you the Sheriff Carona scandal (and friend and former colleague of many at The District), is now breaking a story on Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, a “well-connected Orange County conservative activist” and an associate of Long Beach’s semi-congressman, Dana Rohrabacher.

A legal representative for Nielsen, who has extensive personal ties to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Orange County Republican Party boss Scott Baugh, told prosecutors early last week that Nielsen would plead guilty to two felony counts: committing lewd acts on a child under 15 years old and committing lewd acts on a child under 14 years old.

In exchange, Nielsen, 37, is expected to receive a three-year prison sentence, which is mild considering he faced more than 30 years if convicted of all the sex-crime counts in two scheduled upcoming trials. He will also have to register as a sex offender for life.

Just as with the Sheriff’s scandal, Moxley’s been on this story for years. You can find an archive of his reporting on Nielsen here.

Tags: Catholic Church, conservative activists, dana rohrabacher, Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, OC Republicans, OC Weekly, Scott Baugh, Scott Moxley, sex crimes