Ex-Baptist minister charged with sex abuse of 3 teen relatives

A former Texas minister was arrested recently at his home in Jim Wells County and charged with the alleged sexual abuse of three teenage relatives. The sexual assaults were first reported by an 18-year-old woman who told police she was molested by the church leader in 2009.

County sheriff’s deputies interviewed the 58-year-old ex-pastor, who denied the teenager’s accusations. Deputies were to question the former Baptist minister again just days later.

More sexual abuse allegations were lodged against the pastor when the mother of the first accuser brought in two more of her children to speak with police. The brother and sister of the 18-year-old alleged the minister also had sexually assaulted them.

The boy told Jim Wells County sheriff’s deputies that the molestation started when he was 13, in the same year the assaults on his older sister allegedly first took place. The younger sister said she was a victim of the pastor’s abuse at age 15, at about the same time as her siblings.

When the former minister was brought in for questioning, the suspect admitted he had sexually abused the sisters, but did not confess to assaulting the boy. The three siblings are related by marriage to the former pastor.

Police issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest on multiple felony counts of child sexual assault. The former clergyman was taken into custody at his home and placed in the Jim Wells County jail.

Authorities investigating the allegations believe the teenagers may have been sexually abused at the Baptist church, where the suspect was the pastor for about 10 years. The children had been hired to work at the church performing small tasks.

Source: caller.com, “Police: Former Alice pastor arrested for sexually assaulting three teen siblings,” Steven Alford, Nov. 10, 2011