Alvarado Pastor Arrested for Allegedly Sexually Abusing Second Teen

By Deanna Boyd
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
August 15, 2014

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/15/6045578/another-man-claims-he-was-abused.html?rh=1

An Alvarado pastor already charged with indecency of a child for allegedly sexually abusing a teen boy in 2000 and 2001 was arrested again Friday, now accused of molesting a different teen in 2005.

Dan Haby Jr., pastor of the Cowboy Way Church, turned himself in Friday afternoon at the Tarrant County Jail on an arrest warrant accusing him of indecency with a child/fondling.

Haby, 51, had been charged last month with indecency of a child/fondling on allegations that he sexually abused a teen he had been mentoring while pastor of the now defunct Stockyards Community Church.

In that case, the alleged victim, now 29, told police that the abuse began in 2000, when he was 15, and occurred at Haby’s then Fort Worth home on Creston Avenue.

The second alleged victim, 25, contacted Fort Worth police Detective C.W. Daniels on July 31 after news articles about Haby’s arrest appeared in the Star-Telegram and Cleburne Times, according to a Fort Worth police report filed Thursday.

The man “reported that he had recently learned of Haby’s arrest and he too was sexually abused by Haby,” the police report states.

Sgt. James Thomson, supervisor of the crimes against children unit, said Friday that the alleged abuse of the second victim occurred in 2005 and happened one time.

The report indicates the alleged abuse also occurred at the house on Creston Avenue in Fort Worth.

Haby, who continues to post on the Cowboy Way Church Facebook page almost daily, has previously declined to comment through others, referring questions to his attorney.

Attorney Mark Daniel, who is now representing Haby, said Friday that he was aware of the new allegation against his client.

“We haven’t been made aware of all the facts concerning it yet,” Daniel said. “We’re going to begin our own investigation, work, and we’ll certainly be prepared to defend it at an appropriate time.”

‘Tears in his eyes’

Though other church leaders have not commented on the allegations against their pastor, in an Aug. 3 sermon available online, visiting Pastor Randy Free addressed the congregation on the matter.

“Today our church finds itself in a very unusual place. Our beloved pastor finds himself in the greatest spiritual battle of his life and his ministry and it’s a battle that also affects this church,” Free said. “However there is a silver lining behind this storm cloud ... That is that Dan’s God and our God has never lost a battle. And he's not about to lose this one.”

Free said while he was not allowed to speak about the Haby’s case, he called on the church not to judge or condemn but be loving.

“We are going to cast the longest shadows mercy has ever cast toward everyone involved,” Free said.

He told the congregation he had talked to Haby the previous day.

“He had tears in his eyes as he told me how much he loves everyone single one of you and how me he appreciates... your outpouring of love, your fervent prayers for him, and he is utterly determined to come through this storm victoriously,” Free said, drawing applause and shouts of support from church members.

Relieving stress

In the initial allegations made against Haby, the alleged victim told police that he and two friends frequently spent weekends at the house on Creston Avenue, where Haby lived with two other ministers from the Stockyards church.

The man told police that while his two friends slept in the living room, Haby soon began inviting him to sleep on a mattress on the floor in his bedroom, according to Haby’s arrest warrant affidavit.

With the bedroom door closed and locked, the man told police Haby eventually began laying next to him, touching, and rubbing himself on the teen.

“Dan told the victim that he wasn’t married and he didn’t have a way to relieve stress,” the affidavit states. “He explained that by lying with and holding the victim, this allowed him to release stress, which helped him be a stronger pastor thereby bringing God to more people.”

“He told the victim this was the path and the will that God had for him so Christ could be brought to more people,” the affidavit went on. “The victim explained that he was initially alarmed by this, but he soon began believing the things Dan would tell him and he felt it was a sacrifice on his part.”

The man told police the abuse continued after he turned 16.

Interviewed by investigators, Haby’s former roommates and the other two teens who frequently stayed in the pastor’s Fort Worth house acknowledged that the victim slept in Haby’s room with the door closed during overnight stays.

The alleged victim told police that he did not tell anyone about the sexual abuse for fear that his parents would have thought he was a homosexual and that an older sibling would be disappointed. He said when asked back then by his friend about what he and the pastor were doing in the bedroom, he responded with what Haby had told him to say, that Haby was “mentoring him to become a strong minister.”

Deanna Boyd, 817-390-7655 Twitter: @deannaboyd