Roc Pastor Was Living with Girls He's Accused of Assaulting
By Louis Llovio
Geronimo Aguilar, senior pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, began sexually assaulting an 11-year old girl and her 13-year old sister in October 1996 while living in their parents’ home, according to arrest warrants issued in Fort Worth, Texas last month. The two warrants, sworn out by Fort Worth Detective D.L. Nash, accuse Aguilar of having sex with the two girls for more than a year. According to the warrants, Aguilar was taken into the home after the girls’ parents followed him from California to Fort Worth to join him at a church called New Beginnings. Texas authorities have charged Aguilar with seven felonies in two cases. Four of those charges carry sentences of up to life in prison. Aguilar is free on bail and on paid leave from the South Richmond megachurch known as the ROC. The girls’ parents, according to the warrants, followed Aguilar “because he was their trusted spiritual leader he was able to move into their home and have access” to the victims. According to the warrants, Aguilar, then 26, began his sexual relationship with the younger of the two victims, in October 1996 while lying in bed between the two. The abuse continued after that with inappropriate touching at the home -- and the church, the warrants say. Shortly after moving to Grapevine, Texas, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, in March 1997, he had sex with the younger girl in the family’s living room where he was caught by her parents, according to police. The parents, according to the arrest warrants, have given police a written statement saying that Aguilar admitted having sex with the girl, who was the then 12. The other warrant alleges that on Oct. 31, 1996, Aguilar entered into older sister’s room and had sex with the then-13-year-old girl. He continued having sex with the girl until she was about 15, including in motels, a church van, church bathroom and in public restrooms, police said. Aguilar, according to the report, was asked to leave New Beginnings after a witness caught him kissing the girl. In addition to testimony from the girls and their parents, a witness named Jason Pena told police that when he was 16 he caught Aguilar buttoning up his pants and putting on his belt while the older girl, “who was 13 or 14 years of age at the time,” watched from the end of the bed where she was covered with a blanket. Pena told police the girl then said, “I can’t stand the smell of sex.” A couple married by Aguilar, Clement and Amanda Ray, told detectives that they overheard Aguilar asking for forgiveness and begging the girls’ parents not to “call the police for having sex with their daughters.” Aguilar was arrested by a U.S. Marshals Task Force May 21. He has been charged by the Texas authorities in two cases with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 14. The charges are first-degree felonies that carry a sentence of up to life in prison. He also has been charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child, which are second-degree felonies that carry up to 20 years in prison, and one charge of indecency with a child, also a second-degree felony. A Texas judge placed a gag order on attorneys and officials last week. Aguilar’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
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