A former pastor of an Orlando church was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison Friday for repeatedly raping a woman who went to him for spiritual guidance at his home in Kissimmee.
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In July, an Osceola County jury convicted Eddy Noelsaint, 54, of four counts of sexual battery while serving as pastor of Église Évangélique De La Restauration. Each count carries a 30-year prison sentence, which will run consecutively, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell told reporters at the Osceola County Courthouse.
“Today is about making sure that when someone uses their power or their position to sexually violate another person, that there are consequences,” Worrell said. “And it’s about making sure survivors know that when they come forward, their voices will be heard and their cases will be taken seriously.”
Noelsaint’s accuser reported him to Osceola County deputies in February 2023, telling them she had been battered on at least two occasions at Noelsaint’s home in July and November 2022.
The first instance took place at what she believed was a spiritual revival, only for her to be drugged and attacked by Noelsaint, according to an arrest affidavit. The second took place after she was invited to Noelsaint’s home, believing she would be meeting with his wife to look for an apartment.
Noelsaint, investigators said, confessed to “having sex” with his victim, the affidavit noted.
At the time of his arrest, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office asked for other victims to come forward. On Friday, Worrell confirmed no other victims reported being abused by Noelsaint.
“He was in a position where she trusted him so much that he made her think it was OK — he absolutely betrayed something so previous as faith, spiritualness, guidance,” Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Synnamon said. “Additionally, 30 years consecutive as to each count is not even close to the amount of time that the victim in this case is going to need to heal. Her scars are forever.”
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Worrell hailed the sentence as part of a broader trend of increasing conviction rates by her prosecutors for sex crimes. By July, she said, her office reached an 83% conviction rate so far in 2026 in Orange and Osceola counties.
The numbers run in contrast to past attacks against her by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who earlier this year issued a letter to Worrell blasting her for what he said were lenient sentences for certain cases, including sex crimes.
Among them was the case of a teen accused of possessing child sexual abuse material who was sentenced to six years of probation as a sex offender after his attorneys petitioned the judge for youthful offender status.
Worrell countered that a judge handed down that sentence over the objections of prosecutors and it was not a sentence sought by her office.
On Friday, Worrell mentioned another case pointed to by her critics, involving a man accused of masturbating in a park with children present. That case was dropped after prosecutors found that the child did not see what was taking place, a move Worrell said was bound by Florida Supreme Court ruling in 2000.
The ruling was based on a state law against lewd and lascivious exhibition that once allowed the victim not seeing the act to be used as a possible defense in court. That was changed this year following a reform passed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, with backing from Worrell’s office.
“To survivors,” she said, “please hear me clearly: You are not alone. Your voice matters, your experience matters and you deserve to be heard.”
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