Bay Area Pastor Accused of Child Sex Abuse

By Kale Williams
SF Gate
August 14, 2014

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-pastor-accused-of-child-sex-abuse-5684769.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bayarea

Pastor Ventje Cornelis Singkoh, 69, was charged with three counts of felony child molestation. Photo: Courtesy San Mateo County Sherif, Courtesy San Mateo Sheriff Dept.

A pastor from Daly City who held services at a number of Bay Area churches has been charged with multiple counts of child sex abuse, prosecutors said.

Ventje Cornelis Singkoh, a 69-year-old pastor at the IPAFC Church at 18th Avenue and Geary Boulevard in San Francisco, was taken into custody by Daly City police around 8 a.m. and was charged with three counts of felony child molestation after allegedly abusing a victim younger than 13 for more than a year, starting in January 2013 and ending February 2014, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Singkoh also held services at the Golden Gate Christian Church on 18th Avenue in San Francisco and the First Presbyterian Church on Colfax Street in Concord, as well as at his residence in Daly City, police said. However, the First Presbyterian Church in Concord said it had no affiliation with Singkoh, and had only leased him a room at the church.

The alleged abuse came to the attention of law enforcement through Child Protective Services, but it wasn't clear whether the victim was a member of one of the churches where Singkoh served, Wagstaffe said.

"Children rely on certain people to put their trust in," he said. "We recognize that this is a very serious breach of that trust."

Calls to the churches in San Francisco went unanswered Tuesday afternoon.