By Lisa Martone
WOI
March 26, 2011
http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14324014
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A 41-year old man serving as a pastor at a Pella church has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse and exploitation.
Patrick Edouard was a pastor at the Covenant Reformed Church in Pella.
According to court papers filed on Thursday, Edouard sexually abused three "emotionally dependent" women, and had sexual contact with a fourth.
Court documents said all four victims went to him for private counseling.
They go on to state that some of the acts took place in the basement of a home on Cedar Street in Pella, a place that Edouard used as a study. The documents say the women told him to stop or resisted, but he "overpowered them" and then threatened them, to keep them quiet.
He has been charged with three counts each of sexual exploitation by a counselor which includes clergy members and sexual abuse.
He had moved to Michigan since the alleged incidents, but returned to Iowa to be charged.
The Marion County Attorney's office, Pella Police and the church and all have declined to comment. Edouard is scheduled to go before a judge on April 1st.
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