Methodist Pastor given six months in Wheeler Wildlife case (indecent exposure)

[Ian David]

3/21/2007, 2:04 p.m. CDT
The Associated Press

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — A former Hartselle minister convicted of indecent exposure in a sting at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge was sentenced to six months in federal prison, three months less than the government recommended in a plea agreement.

Gradson Tanner, 48, was sentenced Tuesday. A jury in Decatur found Tanner guilty on the misdemeanor charge on Feb. 21.

U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said the charge arose from Tanner's encounter with a man who was an undercover agent on Flint Creek Trail at the Wheeler wildlife refuge in Morgan County last July.

Tanner was one of 27 charged in the sting operation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Tanner, who lost his pastorate with the Salem United Methodist Church after he was cited, has since been separated from his wife and children.

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