Luis Clarke, 38, is charged with 25 counts of sexual battery of a minor and false imprisonment
A youth pastor at a Florida church has been arrested after being accused of sexually assaulting a female minor and threatening to turn her family over to immigration officials if she told anyone.
Authorities say Luis Clarke, 38, assaulted the girl over six months from when she was 15 in August 2016 to February 2017.
At the time, he was a part-time youth pastor at the now defunct Abrazo tu Sueno Church in Pembroke Pines.
According to an April report, Clarke would collect the girl from school and take her to his residence in the same neighborhood as the church, which was open 2014 to 2018.
He allegedly molested and raped her and took images of her undressed on his iPad.
The report states the girl ‘never reported the sexual acts to her parents and went along with [Clarke’s] request because he threatened to report her and her family’s illegal status to authorities’.
A police document states that on one occasion Clarke picked up both the girl and a 15-year-old boy from a park in Hollywood then took them to him home and set up an alarm.
He allegedly forced the male to watch him assault the female and ensured they wouldn’t attempt to flee by activating the property’s alarm.
Clarke is accused of shouting at the boy, telling the male child he was gay and that the girl ‘belongs to him’.
‘[Clarke] continued to yell at [the boy] demanding that he watch the sexual act,’ Detective Alkie Lewis-Siminies stated in a report.
The boy went to police on April 3.
Luis Clarke [left] next to Broward Assistant Public Defender Hector Romero made his first court appearance fr his hearing on Friday
Police made their arrest after Clarke left his home a little before 7 a.m. Thursday.
Once in custody, Clarke gave a sworn statement and admitted to two sexual encounters with the girl. He told police the boy had been to his home but he denied having sex with the girl in front of him, the detective’s report said.
“The suspect also admitted to several other similar crimes involving [the girl] which occurred in other jurisdictions,” Xiques said. Authorities in those locations have been notified, he said.
Clarke was arrested Thursday. He was being held in Broward Main Jail in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
He’s charged with 25 counts of sexual battery of a minor and false imprisonment.
The report says Clarke admitted to two sexual encounters with the girl.
A lawyer for Clark wasn’t listed on jail records.
‘We are asking any parent or guardian whose child may have come into contact with the suspect through the church or otherwise, to please speak to them regarding this matter,’ the Sun Sentinel reports Pembroke Pines police Captain Al Xiques said.
‘If there is a concern of potential wrongdoing, they are urged to contact the Pembroke Pines Police Department.’
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