Colorado Charges Added against Ex-pastor Facing Sex-abuse Trial in Kentucky

The Courier-Journal
April 17, 2012

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120417/NEWS01/304170044/Colorado-charges-added-against-ex-pastor-facing-sex-abuse-trial-Kentucky?odyssey=nav|head

A former Kentucky youth pastor, already facing charges of sexual abuse in Henderson, Ky., has been arrested again on similar charges in a Colorado case.

John H. Brothers Jr., 43, was arrested Friday in West Monroe, La., where he had been living since his departure from Kentucky last year.

Brothers was formerly a youth pastor at Hyland Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Henderson, Ky.

Brothers is scheduled for trial May 17 in Henderson Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. A Henderson Police Department report said Brothers was arrested after a detective interviewed two juveniles under 18.

News accounts at the time of Brothers’ arrest in November 2011 indicated that the alleged victims were members of the congregation.

Under Kentucky law, first-degree sexual abuse is a felony that covers a variety of offenses against minors, including using a position of authority or special trust to subject anyone under 18 to sexual contact.

Brothers’ most recent arrest, carried out by police from West Monroe and from Routt County, Colo., involves eight charges of sexual assault on a child, seven charges of sexual assault and eight charges of first-degree burglary.

Brothers was in transit from Louisiana to Colorado on Tuesday, according to the Routt County Sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Garrett Wiggins said the Colorado charges do not appear to be church-related.

A statement from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which advocates against sexual abuse by clergy of various denominations, urged “officials at Hyland Baptist Church to aggressively seek anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes at Brothers’ hand to come forward immediately.”

A woman who answered the phone at the Hyland church on Tuesday said the congregation had no comment on the cases.