Pastor Charged in Alleged Assault, by Crystal Carreon, Sacramento Bee, March 14, 2007

Pastor Charged in Alleged Assault

By Crystal Carreon
Sacramento Bee
March 14, 2007

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/137726.html

Minister Chris Baker, right, prays with congregation members Tuesday outside Sacramento Superior Court as the pastor of Praise Tabernacle church is arraigned in the alleged assault on a boy in Meadowview.
Photo by The Sacramento Bee/Renée C. Byer

A south Sacramento pastor was arraigned Tuesday on four felony counts stemming from an alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy at a library last week, prompting a verbal attack from another inmate in the courtroom.

Frederick Deshawn Dew, 34, of Praise Tabernacle church, did not enter a plea to charges of forced oral copulation with a child under 14; two counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child; and a count of attempting to commit lewd acts with a child.

But when Sacramento Superior Court Judge James I. Morris began reading the charges against Dew, another inmate waiting for an unrelated court appearance yelled out an expletive at Dew. When a guard escorted him and another inmate out, the man shouted: "That was little kids, man."

Dew continued to stand stoically in an orange jail jumpsuit and black shirt -- signifying protective custody -- and faced the judge during the minutes-long appearance.

Prosecutors also have asked the judge to raise Dew's bail to $1.2 million, up from the earlier $500,000 reported on his booking sheet shortly after his arrest.

Dew has been in custody since Friday, a day after the alleged attack Thursday inside a bathroom at Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Meadowview.

Sacramento police have released few details about the case other than reporting that the victim escaped the assault and told library officials about what had happened in the bathroom; on-site security then managed to get a suspect description, according to a news release.

In a jailhouse interview with The Bee this week, Dew maintained his innocence and said his arrest resulted from a "misunderstanding or miscommunication."

The pastor said he was at the library Thursday preparing a Bible lesson for an upcoming church conference on relationships. He said he did not see a teenage boy at the library and alleges that detectives were pushing him to confess.

Authorities have declined to discuss Dew's version of events, citing the ongoing investigation.

On Tuesday, police continued to withhold releasing Dew's picture, and at the arraignment the judge also barred the media from photographing his face.

Outside the courtroom, about a dozen of Dew's congregants and supporters faced the allegations with a prayer circle, throwing their hands up in the air and clapping in support of their pastor.

"He is a man of God," said Chris Baker, of Coastal Christian Ministries in south Sacramento, before the prayer. "The congregants believe in him."

Linda Coleman, who works at Dew's church on 44th Street and is a longtime family friend, said the charges against the pastor are unbelievable.

"If you know him as a person, you would never believe the accusations against him," Coleman said. "He's all about changing souls."

Coleman said she has known Dew since he came to Sacramento three years ago and founded Praise Tabernacle. She declined to talk about his past.

Dew is scheduled to return to court on March 19.