WASHINGTON
KIRO
[with video]
by: Joanna Small Updated: Jul 20, 2016
BELLINGHAM, Wash. —
A North Sound pastor is suspected of preying on a 12-year-old girl in abuse that continued for years, eventually having sex with her and promising to marry her.
The house next door to Bellingham Baptist Church where police believe 37-year-old Christopher Trent lived with his wife and seven children appeared vacant Wednesday.
“He’s packing a U-Haul and packing a transport van with all of their gear and it appears they’re going to head out, and so we made the contact with him and learned they were planning to leave the state,” explained Lt. Bob Vander Yacht.
Instead, Trent is in the Whatcom County Jail accused of grooming one of his church girls for sex — police say over a period of more than two years, police say.
Just last month he posted on social media about hosting a Vacation Bible School for 120 kids at the same church where police say he sexually abused the girl.
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