IOWA
UPI

By VERONICA LINARES, UPI.com

A former youth pastor in Council Bluffs, Iowa claims he had sex with teenage boys because it was his duty “to help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them].”

Brent Girouex, 31, was arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist after authorities found out about his actions.

In February Girouex confessed to Council Bluffs police detectives that he had sexual relations with four young men starting in 2007 to help them gain “sexual purity” in the eyes of God. However, at least eight men have come forward with complaints that the pastor molested them.

Girouex told investigators that the longest relationship he had with any of the victims lasted four years. He said that it started when the boy was 14 years old and that the “mutual” contact took place…