Group Demands Aguilar Be Removed As Speaker

By Louis Llovio
Richmond Times-Dispatch
April 3, 2014

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/group-demands-aguilar-be-removed-as-speaker/article_ab8413e6-c741-5dd5-9ab7-e81593758909.html

The Fort Worth Police Department Crimes Against Children Unit (CACU) received a report of sexual abuse of a child, from law enforcement officials in Anaheim, California. The allegations were that two females made an outcry of sexual abuse by Geronimo Aguilar. Both victims were juveniles at the time of the alleged offenses and are now adults.

A national organization for victims of childhood sexual abuse blasted a Richmond church Wednesday for allowing Geronimo Aguilar, charged in Texas with sexually assaulting two young girls, to speak at a Good Friday service later this month.

“Fundamentally it comes down to this: We as adults can make it easier or harder to catch child molesters. These folks are making it harder,” said David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Clohessy was speaking about the decision by Cedar Street Baptist Church of God to allow Aguilar, who could face up to life in prison if convicted, to speak at a Good Friday program called Rush Hour to Calvary.

The event features seven local pastors who will speak for seven minutes each.

Clohessy said the main problem with giving Aguilar a platform to speak, even if he has not been tried yet, is that it makes it more difficult for victims of sexual abuse, who are already terrified, to come forward.

“They are knowingly trying to exploit what limited popularity he might have to boost attendance and they’re heartlessly dismissing his courageous victims,” he said.

By allowing Aguilar to preach again, the message “that victims and witnesses and whistle-blowers get is, ‘why bother? The bad guys always seem to win and your pain and courage mean nothing.’”

“This is wrong for three reasons: It rubs salt into the wounds of adults who were abused as kids, it encourages rather than discourages future wrongdoing, and it endangers kids by making it harder to report,” Clohessy said.

SNAP is asking that Cedar Street remove Aguilar from the program or that the other pastors back out.

Two — Roscoe Cooper III of Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church and Tyrone Nelson of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church — have already backed out.

Aguilar was arrested in May on charges that he abused an 11-year-old and her 13-year-old sister in the 1990s. He resigned in June from the Richmond Outreach Center, the Richmond megachurch he founded and of which he was senior pastor.

He has been indicted in two cases — one for each of the sisters — on four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17, and five counts of indecency with a child.

The aggravated sexual assault charges are first-degree felonies that carry a maximum term of life in prison. The remaining charges are second-degree felonies with a maximum sentence of 20 years each.

Aguilar’s next court date is June 20. No trial date has been set.

Cedar Street confirmed Wednesday that the event was still on but would not comment on Aguilar’s appearance. Anthony M. Chandler, Cedar Street’s pastor, was not available.

Aguilar did not respond to an email request for comment.

“Anthony Chandler is my friend. He asked me to preach, and I said yeah before I had all the details about the service,” Nelson said Wednesday.

“Churches are autonomous. They make a decision on who they want to speak. They made a decision to set the program up the way they want to set it up and I didn’t know all the details. … I’ve just decided that I’m not going to participate this year.”

LLLovio@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6348