Former Jamestown Priest Reaches Plea Deal and Avoids Trial

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (KVRR) — A former Jamestown priest will avoid jail if he completes 50 hours of community service after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

The plea deal for Neil Pfeifer included a charge of sexual exploitation by a therapist being dismissed.

A trial on the charges was supposed to begin today in Jamestown.

He was sentenced to 360 days in jail but it was all suspended except for 10 days and credit for one day served.

Terms of the plea deal mean he will have to serve nine days in jail if community service isn’t finished by September 15.

Pfeifer was charged with a similar crime in Logan County, but that case was dismissed in April.

He had served as a pastor in Jamestown, Buchanan and Windsor.