The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Malo Victor Monteiro, former youth pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar, California and former assistant pastor at Menifee Baptist Church in Menifee, California, stands accused of sexually abusing numerous children over a twenty year period. The Press-Enterprise reports:
A youth pastor in Wildomar was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexually assaulting children over a nearly 20-year span.
Malo Victor Monteiro, 45, of Colton, was booked into Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on suspicion of intent to commit rape, mayhem or sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts with force on a child under 14, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, distributing harmful matter and sexual penetration by force, according to the Riverside County jail log.
Today, a woman publicly accused Monteiro of sexually abusing her while she attended Faith Baptist, ABC-7 reports:
A woman came forward Monday to describe being sexually abused and how her former youth pastor Victor Monteiro groomed her.
“It was little by little, but then he would tell you, ‘You’re really cool. You’re special to me,'” April Avila said. “He would punch you on the shoulder, you know, be the cool youth pastor. Then it became caressing and touching your butt.”
Monteiro was arrested last week on numerous felony charges related to sexual assault on children that spans two decades. Avila said she came to know Montiero when she and her family attended Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar.
“The more involved I was, that’s when things began to escalate at church and away from church,” she said.
Avila is just one suspected victim, and there are others. Another suspected victim of abuse is suing Faith Baptist Church, accusing church administrators of knowing about the allegations and covering up for Monteiro.
In the lawsuit, it claims the church was aware of another youth pastor, who is suspected of having an inappropriate relationship, but the entity ignored it. In doing so, it allowed Monteiro to prey on his victims.
“He knew very well what I had gone through,” Kathy Durbins said.
Durbins is Monteiro’s sister-in-law. She said she was involved in an inappropriate relationship at Faith Baptist when she was a teenager. She said her brother-in-law used his knowledge of the church’s cover up to hide his own crimes.
“I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. There was no law enforcement called. So basically it was a big cover up,” she said.
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Faith Baptist Church is pastored by Bruce Goddard. Menifee Baptist Church is pastored by Pat Cook. Both congregations are Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) churches. I previously wrote a post about Bruce Goddard titled, Pastor Bruce Goddard and His Bait and Switch Tactics.
Related to the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr50b83ZNuI
Wow, that older post received a ton of comments! This is disgusting how the church covered up years of sexual abuse. I guess it isn’t a surprise when women are taught that they are to be submissive to their male superiors and that abuse is their fault for how they dress or how they act. They could be covered head to toe in a loose muu muu and still be accused of being shameless hussies luring some godly man to lust and desire.
I’m just disgusted at finding out about Victor Monteiro. I mean this guy married my mom and stepdad. You truly cannot trust anyone.
He married my mom and (now) ex stepdad too. He was “Uncle Victor” to me. I always considered him, his wife, and their kids to be family. I haven’t seen any of them in years, for a few reasons, but I hope that his victims and his family can recover from this.
It makes me sad that Menifee Baptist Church is being associated with this scandal. The pastor there is an honest and very decent man. He was totally unaware of the actions of Victor Montiero and I pray that this does not hurt his church.
Faith Baptist on the other hand, HA!!! Pastor Goddard knew what was going on for years, and with pastors before Victor, there was abuse that Goddard knew about as well. All I can say is that if the courts do not handle this appropriately, God will take care of Bruce.
You cannot know for sure what happened at either church. Outwardly “good” men can do bad things. The Black Collar Crime Series uses public news reports for its information, not personal opinion. That’s why these things are turned over to law enforcement.
In this case, I happen to know the pastor of Menifee Baptist personally, was best friends with his mom and was very close to the family. I have watched him grow up and spent countless hours with the family so this is not a casual personal opinion, I am speaking from experience and have seen the proof of his character and integrity. I understand that the news reports are being used, but as we all know the news isn’t always truthful.
It is a fact that Monteiro was at Menifee Baptist. That is all the news is reporting. It’s possible, even likely, that Monteiro committed crimes there too. As a member of that church, I’d want the connection publicized. That way if there are other victims they are encouraged to come forward.
I will repeat, no matter how well you think you know someone you can’t possibly know everything about them. I have published over 500 Black Collar Crime posts. Countless people such as yourself swore that Pastor ________could never do _________, yet he did. Bob Gray (Jacksonville) was a pedophile for decades, yet he pastored one of the largest churches in America and was able to escape detection. Besides, the Menifee pastor is not being accused of anything. Yes, it sucks being the pastor of a church that might have employed a sexual abuser. But, the only thing that matters is exposing the scope of Monteiro’s crimes.
Just saw this- Wendy, consider the damage to the victims here ! This series of articles is NOT about YOUR pastor,not at all. It’s about kids, who’s lives were altered permanently by trauma ! You need to grow up. Monteiro is the issue at hand. This is tragic,and God at this point looks like an ass, because of the church’s behavior.