A former pastor accused of having sex with a teenaged choir girl pleaded not guilty to rape today.

Joseph Jermaine Spencer, 26, was charged with rape by force or fear, unlawful intercourse with a minor at least three years younger than the defendant, oral copulation with a minor and sexual penetration with a foreign object.

The charges stem from an alleged encounter in April at Spencer's Murrieta apartment with a 16-year-old member of the choir he directed at in Temecula.