ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A longtime New Mexico pastor has been charged with sexually abusing a 5-year-old boy at the suspect’s Albuquerque home, where authorities say he and his wife previously babysat the child.
Curtis Ray Brown, 55, was scheduled to make a court appearance on Friday on charges of criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact of a minor.
A spokesman for the Bernalillo County district attorney’s office said an investigation was ongoing, and the 5-year-old remained the only victim in the case.
A criminal complaint filed against Brown, who was jailed Thursday, showed Albuquerque police began investigating him on Aug. 24 after the boy told his parents he had a “secret” that involved him and Brown “playing” with their private parts.
Brown was the pastor for 18 years at Grace Baptist Chapel in Albuquerque before telling another man at the church on the same day police were alerted to the abuse case that he planned to resign, according court documents.
Joe Mauderly of Grace Baptist Chapel said in court records that Brown told him that he had sinned, and that the sin was of a “sexual nature.”
Court records did not yet list an attorney for Brown. Messages left with the public defender’s office and Grace Baptist Church seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The boy’s father told police that he and his wife learned about the abuse after Brown and his wife had watched his son the night before.
The Associated Press is not naming the boy’s parents to protect his identity.
According to court documents, Brown is accused of molesting the boy, performing oral sex on him and sodomizing him.
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