CALIFORNIA
KABC
[with video]
Carlos Granda
SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. (KABC) — An associate pastor in Norwalk has been arrested for allegedly preying on at least 20 female parishioners over an eight-year period. Investigators say he used their illegal status in the U.S. to cower them into silence.
Detectives received information in April that Jorge Juan Castro had sexually assaulted women from Las Buenas Nuevas Church from October 2004 to September 2012. Castro was an associate pastor and a counselor at the church.
Authorities say the women, ages 18 to 39, implicated the suspect to a third party, and that person contacted sheriff’s deputies. Many of the alleged victims are Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants, and Castro allegedly told the women that if they reported him, he would have them deported. Only four women have come forward to give interviews to detectives.
“From what we understand, some of the victims went to him for counseling for various reasons, and during that counseling session, he would perform certain acts with them in the name of God, telling them that the acts that he’s performing would help them in their problems, whatever they are having, and would sexually molest them,” said Sgt. Al Garcia of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. “He took advantage of his position as a pastor.”
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