Homestead pastor accused of sexual abuse

WPXI
July 13, 2014

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/homestead-pastor-accused-sexual-abuse/ngfKS/

PITTSBURGH —

The pastor of a church in Homestead is facing charges for alleged sexual abuse, police said.

According to a criminal complaint, the unidentified 21-year-old victim claims Duane Youngblood, pastor of the Higher Call World Outreach church, molested him multiple times over a two-and-a-half year period when he was a teenager.

The victim told investigators that the alleged sexual abuse began when he started going to counseling with Youngblood at the age of 16, police said.

During the first counseling session at Youngblood’s church office, Youngblood allegedly took the victim to a back room and told him to pull down his pants. Youngblood then began touching the boy inappropriately, authorities said.

The counseling sessions continued until 2011. Of the 30 to 40 sessions that the victim attended, “sexual activity” occurred in about 25 of them, the complaint said.

The complaint also stated that Youngblood told the victim, “We are not going to speak about this.”

According to police, the victim told investigators that during one of the counseling sessions, Youngblood showed him a pornographic video and asked him if he liked it.

Youngblood has faced sex-related charges involving a minor in the past. In 2008, Youngblood pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault and was placed on the Megan’s Law sex offender list.