SEXUAL ABUSE: Youth Pastor Arrested

IOWA
WHO

[with video]

August 7, 2013, by Kelly Maricle and Jannay Towne

Des Moines police arrested a former youth pastor and charged him with sexual abuse.

“This has been going on for a brief period of time, but I can’t go into details as exactly how long,” says Des Moines Police Sgt. Daniel Blom.

Police were contacted Monday by a teenage girl and her parents. The girl reported an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by 27-year-old Ryan McKelvey.

“Looking into it, doing their investigation, they discovered there might be a second victim. They made contact with the second victim and confirmed that there was an inappropriate sexual contact,” says Blom.

McKelvey is a former youth pastor at Heritage Assembly Church. The church issued a statement saying it is working with police. It goes on to say, “Our prayers and concern go out to the families involved.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.