BUTLER (OH)
New York Daily News
October 7, 2023
By MURI ASSUNÇÃO
Leaders of one of the Ohio churches linked to a youth pastor accused of sexually molesting minors are finally speaking out about the incident as a manhunt for the missing pastor continues.
Jario Isidro Thomas Sanchez was indicted by a grand jury last week on 14 counts — including gross sexual imposition, unlawful restraint and abduction — according to Butler County Common Pleas Court filings.
Investigators say he molested five young victims, all under the age of 16, while working as a youth pastor at different churches in Butler and Hamilton counties in southwestern Ohio.
Sanchez is believed to have fled the state, or possibly the country. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has announced a $5,000 reward for any information that can lead to his arrest.
The abuse allegedly happened at the Church of God of Prophecy, the Church of Life Abundant, and the Fraternity Church over a span of 10 years, local television station WKRC reported.
Pastor Edwin Wilson, the spiritual leader of the Church of God of Prophecy, said he was horrified and shocked to hear the news.
“Our first concern is for the welfare of any children, and then the second question was, ‘Well, how is the name of our church being associated with this?’” Wilson told WKRC, saying his church only rented out its facility to an independent Hispanic congregation linked to Sanchez — but was not affiliated with it.
A spokesperson for that group confirmed Sanchez had been a member over a decade ago when he served as a youth leader.
However, “as far as we are concerned, he was never alone with an individual in the church premises,” the spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
Authorities began investigating the suspect late last year after the parents of three alleged victims told the Butler County Sheriff’s Office that Sanchez had molested their children, local newspaper Journal-News reported.
He’s believed to have fled the area “shortly after the crimes were first reported in December 2022,” the sheriff’s office said Thursday in a news release.