Rockville church youth minister charged with sexual abuse of teen

By Ethan Mcleod
Fox Baltimore
September 7, 2016

http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/rockville-church-youth-minister-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-teen

Thirty-two-year-old Brian Patrick Werth was arrested Wednesday for his alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl at a Rockville church where he served as a youth minister.

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WBFF) – A 32-year-old Montgomery County man was arrested Wednesday for his alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl at a Rockville church where he served as a youth minister.

Montgomery County police detectives took Brian Patrick Werth, 32, of Montgomery Village, into custody, charging him with fourth-degree sexual offense, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree assault. Werth worked at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church on Montrose Road in Rockville.

Child Protective Services alerted detectives in August about allegations that Werth had made inappropriate sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl who attended a youth event at the church in May.

According to the Archdiocese of Washington, a pastor at the church who received a sex abuse complaint about Werth alerted the Archdiocese’s Child and Youth Protection Office, which reported the case to police. The Archdiocese said in a statement that it immediately suspended Werth from his duties at the parish and the school at St. Elizabeth’s, and that he has since been fired.

Investigators found in a subsequent investigation that Werth had been trading text messages with the girl – some of them graphic and sexual in nature – since summer 2014.

Police interviewed the victim and her parents and gathered evidence during their investigation, the department said.

Detectives arrested Werth on a warrant at his home on Drexel Hill Circle at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Police said they think Werth may have abused others who have not come forward. Anyone with additional information about inappropriate contact between Werth and other victims can call the Montgomery County Police Department’s Special Victims Investigations Division at 240-773-5400.