DERWOOD (MD)
Christian Post [Washington DC]
February 12, 2025
By Leonardo Blair
A former teacher at the Elim Gaithersburg church in Derwood, Maryland, is facing up to 55 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually molesting four girls at the church. Two of the victims, according to charging documents, were abused in a classroom as other students prayed.
The former teacher, Ervin Alfaro-Lopez, 34, of Germantown, pleaded guilty to one count of sex abuse of a minor and three counts of third-degree sex offense, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office in Maryland announced in a press release.
The victims were between the ages of 6 and 12 when they were abused between 2016 and 2018.
Charging documents cited by Bethesda said police began an investigation into Alfaro-Lopez after they received a report in May 2023 that he had sexually abused a child. The then 14-year-old survivor told investigators that Alfaro-Lopez sexually abused her when she was 6 or 7.
The teenager told police that Alfaro-Lopez touched her inappropriately during a midnight church service while she sat on his lap and other children watched a movie.
Prior to sharing what Alfaro-Lopez had done to her, the teenager said she shared it with her best friend who “reported Alfaro-Lopez did worse things to her during the same time period,” according to court documents.
It was noted that the night before the teenager told her parents what Alfaro-Lopez had done to her, he allegedly told her father, who served as a pastor at the church, that he was guilty of abusing her best friend too.
The teenager’s mother told police in an interview that she “found out about the alleged abuse of [her daughter] by Alfaro Lopez” in late summer 2023. She confirmed that Alfaro-Lopez told her husband that he had sexually abused their daughter’s best friend.
Police later identified two sisters who alleged that Alfaro-Lopez had also touched them inappropriately over and under their clothes during a class, while other students were praying with their eyes closed. Their father reportedly told police that Alfaro-Lopez had abused his daughters and the church had disciplined him for his behavior.
“[The victims’] father advised that his daughters had previously told him of the abuse, that he had gone to the church Pastor and told him what had happened, and that the incident had been handled inside the church,” the charging documents said.
One of the sisters stated that Alfaro Lopez “got in trouble” after he was reported and he was banned from teaching. She also noted that Alfaro-Lopez was deported, but he eventually returned to the church.
He was arrested on March 11, 2024, following an investigation by the Montgomery County Police Special Victims Investigations Division and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 28.
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