By Kimberly Edds
The Orange County Register
September 28, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/campoverde-police-anaheim-2585287-martinez-pastor
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| Jose Campoverde, 45, of Anaheim has been arrested on suspicion of molesting four girls, according to police. Police said Campoverde is the pastor of Ministerio Cristo Vive, a stripmall congregation. |
Anaheim man jailed after girls say he touched, tried to kiss them.
ANAHEIM – A pastor at a strip mall church has been arrested on suspicion of molesting four girls in his flock; all four of his accusers were living in church-owned housing for needy families, police said today.
Jose Campoverde, 45, of Anaheim is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail on suspicion of lewd conduct with a minor, sexual battery, child annoyance and false imprisonment, according to county jail records.
Campoverde is the pastor of Ministerio Cristo Vive, a small congregation whose members worship in a few suites behind the 99 Cents Only store on South Euclid, police said.
On Sept. 11, a 17-year-old member of Campoverde's church told Anaheim police that her pastor had fondled her while driving her home in May, said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department.
According to the girl, police said, she had been waiting at an Anaheim bus stop when Campoverde pulled up and told her he was there to drive her home. Campoverde told the girl her mother had given the OK, police said.
She got in the car, Martinez said. On the drive back to the girl's home, Campoverde fondled the girl and tried to kiss her, Martinez said.
During a two-week police investigation, three other girls said they were also molested by Campoverde, Martinez said. The youngest was 13; the oldest was 17.
Some of the abuse that the girls alleged occurred at the church-owned halfway houses in Garden Grove and Anaheim, Martinez said.
Campoverde was arrested Sept. 23.
Campoverde has worked as a pastor in Orange County for at least the past eight years, Martinez said. Detectives are also looking into his past as a pastor in Los Angeles, he said.
Anyone with information regarding Campoverde is asked to call Anaheim police Det. Omar Adham at 714-765-1623.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or kedds@ocregister.com
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