Another Woman Accuses Youth Pastor of Sexual Assault

By Paige Austin
Patch
November 19, 2015

http://patch.com/california/ranchosantamargarita/another-woman-accuses-youth-pastor-sexual-assault


Another woman has come forward alleging a Lake Forest church youth pastor sexually assaulted her.

The woman came forward last week after the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of Sean Patrick Aday, a 38-year-old pastor at Grace Community Church in Lake Forest.

Aday was arrested Nov. 7 on suspicion of rape, sodomy, penetration with a foreign object and sexual assault. He allegedly assaulted several women, ranging in age from their late teens to early 20s, at the church.

Authorities believe there may be more victims who haven’t come forward yet.

Sometimes victims think they are the only ones, and they don’t come forward until they find out that others have been assaulted, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock.

“Once they hear that other victims have come forward, it gives them courage to come forward,” said Hallock. “They aren’t standing alone.”

Aday was released on a $500,000 bond. Charges have not been filed against him. Investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Unit arrested Aday during a traffic stop, following several weeks of investigation that included interviews with several female victims, said Hallock.

In October, a female victim contacted sheriff’s investigators to report that she had been sexually assaulted by Aday while he worked as the youth pastor at the church at 26052 Trabuco Road, Hallock said.

During the course of the investigation several other alleged victims were contacted, each indicating they had been assaulted by Aday over the course of the last several years, he said.

“The sexual assaults occurred inside the church, on church property, in various places in Orange County and during church-sponsored, international trips,” Hallock said.

Based on the allegations, Grace Community Church immediately fired Aday in October. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Unit asked anyone with any information regarding additional victims to call them at (714) 647-7418.