TEXAS
OA Online
A former youth pastor has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to felony sexual assault charges following a two year relationship with a 16-year old girl who was a church member. But authorities continue to investigate the husband and wife pastors of the church, for not reporting the offenses when they learned about them.
Angel De Los Santos, 26, a former youth minister at The Life Church in Odessa, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a child, one count of indecency with a child and also one count of criminal solicitation of a minor on Nov. 17 and has been sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison.
But the investigation continues regarding co-pastors Donald and Gina Haislett who were arrested Tuesday for failure to report child abuse. According to the affidavit Donald and Gina Haislett learned of the improper relationship between De Los Santos and a 14-year-old victim on July 30. Yet according to a probable cause affidavit more than one victim may have been involved and received inappropriate text messages from De Los Santos. …
Amy Smith, spokesperson for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, said that internal investigations at churches regarding child abuse is a common practice.
“These types of crimes unfortunately are commonly handled by the church internally just like this church did,” Smith said. “That has the effect to continue to endanger more children. Typically they try to handle it internally thinking they are doing the best thing for the church but they are enabling that person to continue abusing children.”
“We really are glad and thankful for the police department there who are prosecuting this crime,” Smith said. “I think it will do a lot to protect kids and send a clear message to churches or other organizations who may hear an allegation of abuse and they will think twice about handling it on their own.”
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