Butler County Judge William Shaffer on Wednesday decided that once popular music instructor Donald Rasely violated his terms of probation for molesting a student in 2007.

For the violations, Shaffer sentenced Rasely, 64, to serve 9 to 18 months in prison followed by 42 months of probation, but he immediately released Rasely on credit for the 9-plus months he has already spent in prison since his arrest.

Rasely first was ordered to serve prison time and 8 years of probation when he was sentenced for molesting a teenaged boy who was at Rasely’s home for music lessons.

Rasely pleaded guilty to indecent assault, corruption of minors and furnishing alcohol to minors. During his supervision, Rasely was forbidden to travel outside the county without the court’s permission.

Yet, according to testimony given in court Wednesday, Rasely played organ for the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Warren, Ohio, every Sunday for about 4 years before the pastor received an anonymous letter identifying Rasely as a convicted sex offender.

Pastor Dee Emmert contacted probation officials in Butler County, who detained Rasely for leaving the county without permission and engaging in behavior that created a danger to himself or others.

Specifically, probation officer Tracy Veri testified that Rasely didn’t tell the congregation that he was a sex offender so that they could guard against potential problems. Instead he used the alias, “D.J. Raisley,” refused to enter into a contract and resisted the church’s attempts to give him tax forms.

Veri said the behavior was concerning because honesty is part of the recovery process for sex offenders. And churches are specifically vulnerable to victimization because they generally have trusting and caring people who “thrive on fellowship.”

But Rasely’s defense attorney Mike Zunder argued that prosecutors had no proof that Rasely was spending time unsupervised with minors or that his actions amounted to a “grand scheme” to commit more crimes.

Initially, based on the same set of facts, state police also charged Rasely with eight felony crimes related to the registration requirements of the state’s Megan’s Law. Police alleged he failed to register three places of employment, including the church, Sail Care in Ford City and private music lessons in his home.

However, Shaffer last month dismissed those charges, agreeing with an argument by Rasely’s other defense attorney Michael Jewert that Rasely never should have been subject to the registration requirement.

Rasely was not declared a sexually violent predator, which would have triggered a lifetime registration requirement. Instead, his conviction triggered limited registration requirements.

But in March, the laws regarding sexual offender registration changed, and those changes were applied retroactively to cases already in the system.

Under the federal Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, indecent assault still is an offense that requires registration. And, a felony count of corruption of minors still requires registration.

But by the time investigators learned of Rasely’s jobs, the portion of his sentence specifically earmarked for the indecent assault conviction had expired.

He still was serving the portion designated to represent the corruption of minors charge. But when he entered his plea, that charge was graded a misdemeanor of the first degree, and the new law states that registration requirements are not triggered by misdemeanors. Under the new law, the same crime would be a felony.

About 10 people attended court Wednesday in support of Rasely, all of whom were women except one. Some of the women cried when the judge announced his decision.

Emmert, who testified during the hearing, told the judge that after the church’s congregation learned of Rasely’s past they chose to support him.

“He’d be welcomed back as our organist,” she said.