‘HE Was a Horrible Husband’ but ‘amazing Father’

By Kerri O'Brien
WRIC
June 22, 2015

http://wric.com/2015/06/22/samantha-aguilar-he-was-a-horrible-husband-but-amazing-father/

Geronimo Aguilar’s wife took the stand Monday calling him a horrible husband but not a child molester.

The trial for the former Richmond ROC pastor accused of sexually assaulting two girls in Texas continued in Fort Worth.

For the first time since the allegations of abuse and the scandal at the former ROC Church surfaced, the court is hearing from Geronimo Aguilar’s wife. Samantha Aguilar doesn’t deny the affairs he had, but says she never saw anything inappropriate between her husband and the alleged victims.

“Yeah, he was a horrible husband, but they deserve a father, yeah that’s what we are doing,” said Samantha Aguilar.

An emotional Samantha Aguilar said as the ROC Church grew in popularity, she and her husband began to drift apart and her husband’s affairs began.

One of those affairs was with the former pastor’s personal assistant Jammie Chasteen, who lived with the Aguilar family for eight years.

When asked about her relationship with her husband today, the mother of three broke down and cried.

“Even though I want to kill my husband for what he has done to me, he has been a wonderful father, an amazing father,” said Samantha Aguilar. “We just decided we were going to unite. My children lost everything, from their home to friends of the family.”

During Monday’s testimony, Samantha Aguilar recalled her husband telling her about a child protective services investigation in Texas in the late 1990s. She told the jury her husband told her the investigation found nothing and she didn’t worry about it.

“I knew it was crazy,” she said. “I knew I was there the all the time, I knew I never saw anything.”

She stood firm in telling the jury she never saw anything inappropriate between her husband and the alleged victims. But, the prosecutors were tough on her, asking her how she could trust anything Geronimo Aguilar told her, considering the fact that the former pastor lied to her for years about his affairs.

A Texas pastor also testified in court Monday. Pastor Don Couch was adamant he never saw anything inappropriate between Geronimo Aguilar and the alleged victims. He said as a pastor, he would have been obligated to report it.

He told the jury the two parted ways because of some theological differences but when pressed further by prosecutors during cross examination, he admitted he had heard rumors about Aguilar possibly asking around about prescription drugs and that concerned him.

In other trial news, the judge of the case granted the defense acquittal on one count on the charge touching the alleged victim’s breast.