Daniel Hoffman, formerly a youth pastor at Alive Ministries in Jenison, Michigan and a former employee of Jenison Public Schools, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
A former youth pastor has admitted to sexually abusing a young boy in Jenison a decade ago.
Daniel Hoffman, 31, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Authorities say Hoffman was being treated at a Zeeland hospital for a “psychotic break” last autumn when he told a nurse about the abuse. The victim, who used to be neighbors with Hoffman and is now an adult, confirmed to detectives that it happened between 2003 and 2008.
Since the period when the abused happened, Hoffman has worked at Jenison Public Schools and as a youth minister.
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In May 2017, Hoffman was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
An Ottawa County man is facing charges more than 10 years after police say he sexually abused a young boy.
24 Hour News 8 has learned that in the time since the alleged abuse, the suspect has held a number of jobs involving children.
Daniel Hoffman, now 31, is charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Court records from March — when an arrest warrant was issued — show the alleged abuse happened over the course of several years from 2003 to 2008. A police sergeant who testified in court in March said the suspect and the victim were neighbors in Jenison.
Before that, in January, an Ottawa County sheriff’s detective wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant that Hoffman was being treated at a Zeeland hospital for a “psychotic break” in October 2016 when he told a nurse that he had inappropriately touched the victim when the boy was 6 years old. Hoffman would have been 17 or 18 at the time.
The detective interviewed the alleged victim, now an adult, who said that from the age of 5 or 6 until he was 10 to 12 years old, Hoffman repeatedly fondled him. The alleged victim said it happened at Hoffman’s house, in his camper and at Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya in Shelby, where Hoffman was a counselor and the boy was a camper.
The alleged victim’s family chose not to talk to 24 Hour News 8 on camera Tuesday, but said the alleged victim has suffered from depression and thoughts of suicide in the years since the alleged abuse. The family released a statement saying that the suspect “has been involved with so many young people that there are possibly more victims.”
The family said they “want parents and children to know that there are people out there like this, more than we think, and they are devious. If you suspect that your child has been abused look for the signs of mood swings, depression, nausea in the morning and a reluctance to be part of society… even with months of therapy our son was reluctant to say anything because this individual had groomed him to think it was OK until going through maturity realizing it was not. There isn’t anything wrong with bringing this to people’s attention. There is help out there and in our case our son has a huge support system that is helping him, but he has been permanently affected by this and his youth was taken away from him. Don’t let people like this destroy your life talk to someone and above all if it does not feel right say no.”
Court records show Hoffman was a paraprofessional at Jenison Public Schools and also a youth minister, most recently at Alive Ministries in Jenison, 24 Hour News 8 learned. Court records show both of those positions have since been terminated. The lead pastor at Alive Ministries said Hoffman was asked to resign in August.
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Update
A former youth pastor who admitted to sexually abusing a young boy in Jenison a decade ago is headed to a state prison.
In Ottawa County Circuit Court Monday, Daniel Hoffman was sentenced to between 3.5 and 15 years in prison. He received credit for 36 days served.
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