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	Kelso Pastor's Child Sexual Assault Case Becomes 'Very Interesting' By Thacher Schmid Daily News September 16, 2008 http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/09/17/area_news/10421074.txt The child sexual assault scandal surrounding a Kelso pastor and an immigrant church in Portland called The Peach House is spreading. Maximo Ake-Be, senior pastor of a humble Pine Street storefront church called Iglesia de Dios in Kelso, was arrested for rape June 26 at his Kelso home. In late August, another Peach House leader, Manuel Taboada, was charged with similar crimes in Honolulu, Hawaii, Portland police said Monday. Manuel Guillermo Taboada, 56, nicknamed "Memo," is accused of first- and second-degree sexual assault for allegedly molesting a member of a family that belonged to his ministry in Hawaii. Ake-Be's alleged sexual assaults occurred between 1998 and 2000 at The Peach House, a private in-home church in Northeast Portland, where Portland Police Detective Mace Winter says Taboada was the "main" pastor and Ake-Be an "associate" pastor. Ake-Be remains in custody in Multnomah County Jail on $4.5 million bond after pleading innocent to 18 felony charges of rape, sex abuse and sodomy. Winter, a lead investigator in the case, said Monday that Portland police have no reason to suspect that any of Ake-Be's Kelso congregation of 30 members were victimized. "I just don't know of anything going on up there," Winter said. "It looks like the Ake-Be family split from the church (in 2006) and kind of moved up there to begin a different kind of a life and there's no reason to believe that any of these crimes were committed in Kelso." Capt. Vern Thompson said Kelso police have no active investigations involving Ake-Be. Winter said he has spoken to several pastors in Kelso, including one at another Spanish-speaking church, though he declined to say which. He said Taboada, who is being held without bail in Hawaii, is likely to eventually be extradited to Portland to face charges. The Peach House involved several houses and as many as 80 persons, where people were "constantly coming and going," Winter said. "A number of these men were here originally undocumented, then married and became documented," Winter said. "I believe almost every one started out as an undocumented (immigrant)." Ake-Be was at Peach House - so named for the color of its exterior paint, like the "Blue House," another of the ministry's several buildings - for at least three years, he said. Ake-Be came to Portland as an illegal immigrant in 1996 from Cancun, Mexico, said Emiliano Pat, a member of Portland's Iglesia de Dios. Pat said Ake-Be's pastorship was through the Portland Iglesia de Dios. A Honduran immigrant, Ake-Be's wife, Mari Ake, strenuously insisted in July her husband is innocent, as did Pat and her husband. Winter was careful to point out that his investigation - which he described as "very interesting ... a learning experience" - was blind to the immigration status of those involved. He suggested more details will emerge in two weeks. "We want to make sure that we're being accurate and diligent to find out the truth of what was going on, and stop looking for a tree to hang someone from," Winter said. Contact: tschmid@tdn.com
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