With the gallery largely filled with his supporters, the former music director at First Wayne Street United Methodist Church was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy.

Dale K. Tucker, 57, pleaded guilty in November in Allen Superior Court to sexual misconduct with a minor – admitting to giving a boy alcohol and performing sex acts on him.

In exchange for his guilty plea, seven additional charges including sexual misconduct with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor were dismissed.

About a half-dozen witnesses testified to Tucker’s character, describing him as a person of deep Christian faith and an “honorable and loving person.”

But the boy’s parents painted quite a different picture of the former instructor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, whom they had welcomed into their family, even inviting him for Christmas.

“We were part of this fan club a year ago,” the teen’s father said. “You would feel different if it were your 15-year-old son.”

The father described how Tucker, knowing the family’s faith and values, worked behind the scenes to undermine them and manipulate their son for his own desires.

“I have never known a time I have been so deceived and the consequences so devastating,” the victim’s father said. “Dale is the one who deserves to be in prison.”

The victim’s mother tearfully described how she knew that if she didn’t hold Tucker accountable for his actions, then her own Christian faith would be false.

“He initially confessed to much more,” she said of Tucker, adding that her “gut feeling” was that other children had been abused by Tucker.

And she also read an e-mail sent to her by Tucker, who did not know the family had discovered the abuse.

In the e-mail, Tucker describes his enjoyment at hanging out with the boy and then expresses his desire to have the teen’s younger brother visit him as well.

That, Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille said, was chilling and an indication that the abuse would have likely continued had Tucker not been caught.

According to court documents, the teen told his mother about the abuse and she called the Bluffton Police Department. Tucker was accused of sexually abusing the teen in both Allen and Wells counties. He previously pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual misconduct with a minor in Wells County.

“He was a horrible betrayer of a position of trust,” Chaille said.

Tucker apologized to the victim’s family, saying that “as the adult” he took full responsibility, and he apologized for all the pain he caused. But he reserved most of his statement for his supporters, thanking many by name for continuing to stand by him throughout the past few months.

He also asked Allen Superior Court Judge John Surbeck not to send him to prison.

“This has been extremely difficult, physically and emotionally,” Tucker said. “I’m not trying to put myself above anyone else, but I am a man of culture. I am not streetwise. The use of the ‘F’-word (by the other inmates) is eating into my soul.”

Tucker also described missing the practice of his Christian faith in a church setting, particularly during the Christmas holy days.

In sentencing Tucker, Surbeck said that the musician’s own stellar reputation put the victim in greater vulnerability, making the teen more susceptible to Tucker’s manipulation.

“At some point you began using your Christian talents to manipulate this child,” Surbeck said.

He sentenced Tucker to 12 years in prison but suspended two years and ordered them to be served on probation.

rgreen@jg.net