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Tag: Saddleback Church

Black Collar Crime: Youth Mentor at Saddleback Church Accused of Sex Crimes

ruven meulenberg

Ruven Meulenberg, a youth mentor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California — part of Rick Warren’s megachurch empire — was arrested today and ” booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.”

The Los Angeles Times reports:

A youth mentor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest has been accused of acting inappropriately with two teenage boys while he volunteered there, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.

Ruven Meulenberg, 32, was arrested Thursday and booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child and is being held on $100,000 bail, authorities said. Jail records show he is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in a Santa Ana courtroom.

Detectives were alerted to the situation after a 14-year-old boy told his parents that Meulenberg had molested him, Lt. Lane Lageret said. The parents told the church’s youth pastor, who called the Sheriff’s Department, Lagaret said.

Another 14-year-old boy turned up during the detectives’ investigation, Lagaret said.

Meulenberg is a Lake Forest resident who had been volunteering at the church for six years, and during that time, he developed relationships with the two boys, Lagaret said. Some of the conduct allegedly took place on church property, officials said.

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Bruce Gerencser