ORLANDO (FL)
The Herald Republican [Angola, IN]
March 18, 2025
By Mike Marturello
An newly retired Orland pastor has been arrested on five counts of child molesting stemming from incidents that occurred allegedly starting on May 7, 2024.
Rodger Daily Strong, 69, Angola, was arrested on Monday after apparently presiding over his final service or services on Sunday, based on documents filed in Steuben Superior Court.
The incidents allegedly occurred with a girl that was 5 years old and is 6 now. The offenses allegedly occurred between Jan. 1, 2024 and May 8, 2024.
Strong, pastor of the Orland Church of the Nazarene for some 40 years, is facing three charges of Level 1 felony child molesting and two counts of Level 4 felony child molesting.
The incidents came to light earlier this month after certain behavior was displayed by the victim to her parents, court documents said.
The parents of the victim confronted Strong and recorded him in an interview. The father of the victim eventually took the matter to the Indiana State Police, which investigated.
In the interview with the parents, Strong allegedly said the touching was accidental and he tried to blame the child for the incidents, court records say.
In the probable cause affidavit filed in court, the mother said to Strong, “you don’t unintentionally touch a kid’s vagina.”
Strong then said he should have told the girl’s parents but “he did not want her to get into trouble twice,” court records said. “(The mother) confronted him by saying that she can’t understand this because she is 5 years old, and it sounds as if he is blaming their daughter for something he did.”
The court document went on about that interview, saying “Rodger then stated that ‘If you want me to say I did, then I did it, it was not intentional.’”
In an interview with Indiana State Police Detective Matthew Teusch, Strong tried to say the victim was lying.
“I explained to him that kids can tell lies, but nothing like one with great detail like this. I advised him kids do not make up big lies like this and could never have kept the details straight over this long period of time,” Teusch wrote in Strong’s charging document, which was 27 pages long.
Eventually, after Teusch asked to call on his faith to help in providing answers, Strong admitted to touching the girl five times, including three that involved vaginal penetration, court records said.