Victim Group Demands Apology, As Church Backs Pastor Arrested for Child Sex Abuse
By Brandon Shulleeta
The leader of a group of child sexual abuse victims on Tuesday demanded an apology from supporters of a Richmond pastor charged with sexually assaulting two young girls in Texas. Geronimo Aguilar, pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, faces charges in Texas for alleged offenses dating to 1996. He is on a paid leave from the church, whose board released a statement last week saying it “believes the accusations against him to be completely untrue and unfounded.” At a public gathering of three people and several reporters outside the Richmond Police Department, Becky Ianni, the Virginia director for the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, called for an apology and said supporters should back Aguilar only quietly if they must do so while he’s being investigated. “Publically supporting the accused perpetrator is not only hurtful to alleged victims but very intimidating to other victims who might be thinking about coming forward,” Ianni said. Aguilar, who remained in a Fort Worth, Texas, jail as of Tuesday afternoon, has been charged by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in two cases with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 14, which are first-degree felonies that carry a sentence of up to life in prison. He also has been charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child, which are second-degree felonies that carry up to 20 years in prison, and one charge of indecency with a child, also a second-degree felony. Also on Tuesday, The ROC’s board said in a statement that an executive pastor is temporarily stepping down pending misdemeanor charges for making threatening and obscene phone calls. Jason W. Helmlinger, 41, a former Henrico County police officer, was charged in making threats against a critic of Aguilar, the South Richmond megachurch’s senior pastor. Contact: bshulleeta@timesdispatch.com
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