Texas Police Investigate Roc Pastor

By Louis Llovio
Richmond Times-Dispatch
May 4, 2013

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/crime/article_2971b2f3-86a6-57b0-acba-03dc83e5bc80.html

Police in Fort Worth, Texas, are investigating Geronimo Aguilar, pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center in South Richmond, on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Fort Worth Police Detective Deion Nash said Friday that the department has an active investigation into the allegations. He said the charge of aggravated sexual assault indicates that a victim is under age 14.

Aguilar, 43, has not been charged in the case.

Nash said Friday that the aggravated sexual assault of a minor is a first-degree felony. In Texas, first-degree felonies carry prison sentences ranging from five years to 99 years and fines of up to $10,000.

Aguilar’s attorney, David Carlson, said Friday that Aguilar denies the charges and is willing to sit down with police. Fort Worth police have not contacted him about setting up a time, he said.

A letter emailed to parishioners Friday evening defended Aguilar.

“Over the course of this past week, you may have heard very unsettling rumors and inaccurate news reports about Pastor Geronimo,” the letter states. “Contrary to these news reports and rumors, Pastor Geronimo has not participated in anything criminal or scandalous, and these accusations are completely untrue. Pastor Geronimo has already fully cooperated with Texas and local authorities who originally investigated this matter.”

Aguilar was the subject of several broadcast news reports this week.

Carlson said the charges stem from the late 1990s when two girls accused Aguilar of sexual improprieties. He said Texas authorities cleared Aguilar at the time.

“The girls themselves gave statements that there was no basis in fact that there was no wrongdoing on Pastor G’s part,” he said.

Carlson said he is not sure why the girls may have changed their story or why the investigation was reopened.

Sgt. Richard LaRochelle of the Anaheim police in Orange County, Calif., said he came across Aguilar and the accusations in 2007 when investigating another case.

LaRochelle said he opened an investigation at the time but discovered the alleged abuse occurred in Texas. He then forwarded the investigation to authorities in Fort Worth.

Nash confirmed that his office received the case in 2008 and that recent developments have helped spur it forward. He would not elaborate on the recent developments.

“The information that’s available to us now is a lot better than back then,” he said.

Aguilar is the lead pastor and public face of the Midlothian Turnpike megachurch also known as the ROC.

The ROC, according to the church’s website, was founded in 2001 as “a place where local churches, civic groups and individuals could come together to serve the inner city and the urban poor.” It currently serves more than 11,000 people each week through about 150 ministries.

The ROC’s financial statements filed with the Internal Revenue Service show that the nonprofit church’s ministries range far beyond Bible studies and weekend services to include a real estate foundation, cafe, thrift store, fitness center, child care center, clothing line and a tutoring company in Florida, according to its 2011 tax filing.

According to the tax records, the church had $16.9 million in assets at the time of the filing with Aguilar receiving a $94,120 salary from the church and an additional $35,233 from other church-related sources.

The ROC’s businesses, according to the tax filings, are ROC Asphalt Inc., Aim High Tutoring Company of Florida Inc., Love Jesus – East Inc., Love Jesus Inc., ROC Real Estate Foundation Inc., The ROC Cafe Inc., ROC Fitness Center Inc., Jesus Couture Inc., ROC Childcare and Development Inc. and ROC Transportation Inc.

The church also owns several properties in the area and operates after-school and homeless programs.

The ROC also operates the School of Urban Ministry, which offers a “Bachelor of Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Urban Ministry.” The school, on Chamberlayne Avenue in North Richmond, is unaccredited, but state code exempts religious schools from certification requirements.

The Texas allegations are not the first to be brought against Aguilar.

Richmond police said this week that while the department did investigate an allegation against Aguilar over a year ago, he is currently not under investigation.

“There was an allegation made in the past that was fully investigated by the Richmond Police Department,” Richmond police Maj. Steve Drew said this week. The findings were shared with Richmond prosecutors.

“There was not evidence to suggest or reach the level of probable cause for an indictment or an arrest,” Drew said.

Drew declined to specify what type of allegation had been made against Aguilar.

A Richmond prosecutor confirmed in an interview in September 2011 that authorities had found “allegations of conduct that some might characterize as inappropriate but did not rise to the level of criminal conduct.” The investigation was closed.

Carlson, Aguilar’s attorney, characterized the person who made the allegation in Richmond as “someone disgruntled by the church,” although he said he does not know who the person is. “It was baseless,” he said.

An online organization calling itself the Richmond Outreach Center Recovery Group emerged last year “to support victims of any type of abuse experienced from their time at the Richmond Outreach Center.”

Carlson dismissed the group as disaffected former church members.