Bronx Pastor Charged with Rape Rejects Plea Deal, The Gothamist, March 23, 2011

Bronx Pastor Charged with Rape Rejects Plea Deal

The Gothamist
March 23, 2011

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/22/bronx_pastor_charged_with_sex_abuse.php

Michael Clare

In January Michael Clare, the 38-year-old married pastor of the Harvest Worship Center in the Bronx (and principal of its affiliated school, Harvest Prep), was charged with sexual abuse by one of his flock. Specifically, a now 15-year-old girl claimed Clare inappropriately interacted with her for over three years. Despite DNA evidence from the victim's aborted fetus, Clare has maintained his innocence and yesterday rejected a plea deal that would have put him behind bars for just two years.

"He turned down the plea deal because he's innocent," Clare's lawyer Paul Brenner explained after court. Not that prosecution seems to mind the defendant's insistence, though. "This was a sweetheart offer considering the evidence against him," one prosecutor said after court. "It won't get any better from here."

And it certainly seems like the judge in the case, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer, agrees. In court she spoke of the "almost irrefutable proof" in the case and pointed out that plea-or-no, Clare's clergy days are likely numbered. "I don't see how he could continue his work as a pastor," she said, since he'll likely soon be on a sex offenders list if he's found guilty.

According to the victim, Clare began sexually abusing her when she was 12. If convicted the pastor, who is currently out on $50,000 bail, faces up to 25 years in jail.