CROWN POINT | Four years ago, a former East Chicago pastor charged with two counts of felony sexual misconduct with an underage girl predicted his case didn't have a prayer of making it to trial.

So far, the Rev. Chester Mulligan's prophesy has held.

The 43-year-old Miami man's jury trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Lake County Criminal Court but will be continued because of a congested court docket, Lake County prosecutor's spokeswoman Diane Poulton said Friday.

It will be the 11th time in four years that Mulligan's trial date has been put off, Lake County Criminal Court records show.

Of the 10 previous continuations, five were requested by Mulligan's former defense attorney, James Clement Jr.; three were attributed to a congested docket in Lake County Criminal Court Judge Clarence Murray's courtroom; one was requested by Lake County prosecutors; and one was requested by current defense attorney Nick Thiros, court records show.

Meanwhile, Mulligan remains out on bond and is a pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Miami.

Mulligan denied the charges and declined comment Friday when contacted by The Times. Thiros could not be reached for comment.

Lake County prosecutors allege Mulligan had sexual intercourse multiple times with a then 14-year-old girl. The alleged incidents occurred from 1997 and continued to 2001. He ministered during that time at the Central Baptist Church in East Chicago, court records state.

Mulligan resigned from Central Baptist in December 2001.

Court records allege Mulligan first tried to have intercourse with the girl in his house in East Chicago. He stopped when she said it hurt, prosecutors said. But throughout the next two years, according to court records, he had sex with her several times at his house, the church office and baptistry.

When the girl wanted to end the relationship, Mulligan threatened to "start using her sister," prosecutors said. The girl's sister told investigators she was fondled by Mulligan when she was the front-seat passenger in a car he drove from a Kentucky wedding in August 2000, prosecutors said.