Police arrested a Church of God pastor after he allegedly attacked three young girls in his office.
El Shadai Church of God pastor Guillermo Quintanilla is charged with rape, sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition and is being held on a $1 million bond, Cleveland.com reports.
NBC confirms the reports. According to a local affiliate:
The first accusation emerged in June when a mother told police Quintanilla had molested her daughter approximately two times a week over a four-year span, beginning when the girl was 8 years old.
The police complaint also details allegations of Quintanilla pushing one of the victims to the floor of his office, “smacking her in the face numerous times, threatening to rape her, threatening to kill her and her mom” if she told anyone.
Two other victims came forward also alleging assaults at the hands of Quintanilla, when they were as young as 6 and 8 years old, according to court filings.
Police say during a voluntary interview, Quintanilla denied the sexual abuse allegations, but he did say that if he touched the girls (private parts) it would have been by accident.
El Shadai Church of God rents space from another church in the area.
“The congregation of Reformation Lutheran shares the concern about the seriousness and nature of the charges against Mr. Quintanilla and trusts the charges against him will be adjudicated in the courts in due course. To address any risk of confusion in the meantime, Reformation Lutheran stresses that no affiliation or employment exists between either Mr. Quintanilla and El Shaddai on the one hand, and the congregation of Reformation Lutheran (including its pastor [D. Ritchie], and its church council), the Southern Ohio synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and the ELCA itself, on the other hand,” according to a church statement.
Quintanilla was arrested over the weekend at the church. {eoa}
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