Texas:
A teenager says she was repeatedly molested by a youth minister and that church leaders did nothing about it. That youth minister, Adrian Estrada, is now on death row for the murder of another teenager. The family of the teen who says she was molested believes the church pastor is also to blame for ignoring accusations that the youth minister was raping girls.
El Sendero Assembly of God was a church surrounded in controversy a couple of years ago. Estrada was arrested and sentenced to death for killing a teenage church member who was pregnant with his baby. A second teen then came forward and said Estrada had raped her, too. Now, a third teen has filed a lawsuit against the church and Pastor Raul Garcia.
Tennessee:
In another set of indictments, youth minister Daniel J. Lowhorn, 30, of Cookeville was charged with two counts of solicitation of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, 27 counts of exploitation of a minor by electronic means, five counts of solicitation of a minor for aggravated statutory rape and solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means.
Washington:
The parents of four children who were sexually assaulted by a member of their Oak Harbor church have filed a lawsuit against the church, leaders of the church and the convicted child molester. The complaint alleges that officials with Living Faith Christian Center were aware of warning signs and complaints regarding Nathan Martinez and his conduct toward children in the church, but they failed to investigate or alert the parents.... Martinez, a 21-year-old youth leader at Living Faith Christian Center, admitted to molesting eight children while he was babysitting them at the children’s homes. He met all the families through the church, but none of the assaults reportedly occurred at the center on Midway Boulevard.
Originally charged with 30 sex crimes, Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of child rape, seven counts of child molestation and one count of attempted child molestation last fall.
And just the headline from this story out of Texas:
Youth Pastors Encouraged to Learn Self-Defense
Because it's the youth pastors that are in danger.
