By Jonathan D. Silver
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pennsylvania]
March 17, 2006
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06076/671877.stm
Duane E. Youngblood, a married pastor from Wilmerding and the father of five, was arrested yesterday for molesting a 15-year-old boy whom he was counseling for being sexually abused.
Bishop Youngblood, of the Higher Call World Outreach Church on Mifflin Street in Homestead, surrendered yesterday morning at Allegheny County Police headquarters in Point Breeze. He was accompanied by his attorney, Richard Joyce.
Mr. Youngblood, 39, was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, corruption of minors and sexual assault. Police accused him of a single incident of molesting a 15-year-old boy in his church office in the fall of 2002.
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Duane E. Youngblood Photo by the Post-Gazette |
"Just encourage the people of God to pray," Mr. Youngblood told reporters as he was led in handcuffs to a police car for the trip to jail. "Pray for me. Pray for all the families involved."
Mr. Youngblood said he planned to continue preaching despite his current troubles. He declined to answer direct questions about the allegations, saying, "We'll go through the court to deal with it."
Mr. Youngblood's attorney did not return calls seeking comment.
An affidavit said the victim, who is now 18, told police that in 2002 he was attending counseling sessions with Mr. Youngblood to help him deal with a sexual assault by a family member.
The sessions began in October 2002, and Mr. Youngblood took the victim to movies and restaurants at The Waterfront in West Homestead. Mr. Youngblood told the teenager that he reminded the pastor of himself, which is why he wanted to help him, the affidavit said.
In a back room of his office, Mr. Youngblood performed a sex act on the victim, telling the teenager that it was a physical part of counseling, according to the affidavit.
Mr. Youngblood is being held in the Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 bond.
County police Lt. Robert Downey Jr. said he did not know why it took the victim so long to come forward to authorities.
Yesterday's arrest was not the first time Mr. Youngblood was in trouble with the law. Five years ago, Pittsburgh police arrested the pastor for indecent exposure. On Jan. 4, 2001, officers patrolling the Monongahela Wharf found Mr. Youngblood and another man, who was 19 at the time, in a car with their pants down.
The charge was knocked down to disorderly conduct, and Mr. Youngblood pleaded guilty and was fined $75 plus costs.
In 2002, Mr. Youngblood spoke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about his church's efforts to reach out to fatherless boys in the aftermath of a SWAT team removing a 17-year-old Homestead boy from his home during a standoff.
Mr. Youngblood said he was trying to raise a new generation of role models.
"Somebody has to step in and literally be a replacement for what they didn't get and for what they didn't see," Mr. Youngblood told the newspaper. "We are actively working hard to raise up men who will reconnect to their family and their community."
Yesterday, the church was locked and no one answered the door at the adjacent rectory. A sign outside advertised classes for young people.
No one answered the door at Youngblood's rented home on Westinghouse Avenue in Wilmerding. Neighbors both there and near the family's former home on Patton Street were surprised by the arrest.
"It's a shock to me," said Thomas Wanzie, 54, who lived across from the Patton Street residence. "It just doesn't seem feasible."
Mr. Youngblood is the founder of the nondenominational Higher Call World Outreach Church, which he started out his home in Wilmerding in 1990. He is known for forceful sermons that focus on community development and personal fortitude.
His ministry has attracted people from all walks of life, including business professionals and gospel radio deejays, who congregate in the church's sanctuary, which accommodates 400.
(Jonathan D. Silver can be reached at jsilver@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1962.)
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