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.
Isaac Luna-Valencia, pastor of an unnamed church in Las Vegas, Nevada, stands accused of sexually molesting a minor church girl.
A Las Vegas pastor has been accused of molesting a girl under the age of 14 during a boat trip to Lake Mohave, according to the arrest report.
Isaac Luna-Valencia, 48, is facing charges of two counts of lewdness with a child under the age of 14 and kidnapping of a minor.
On Dec. 5 the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a report from Child Protective Services that a child had disclosed that she was molested by her church pastor during a boat trip to Lake Mohave in June 2021, according to the arrest report.
In an interview with police, the victim said that on June 5, 2021, she went on a boat outing with Luna and several other people. After a couple of hours, everyone got off the boat and went to the shore. Lune and the victim were the only ones who stayed on the boat.
While on the water, Luna called the victim over to the side of the boat that was opposite the shoreline, causing the boat to conceal them both from others.
According to the arrest report, the victim said that his request made her feel hesitant and “weird” because she had never felt comfortable around Luna. However, she did what he asked and went over to him.
When the victim got close to Luna, she told police that he grabbed her causing her back to be against his chest and stomach. He then wrapped his arms around her and proceeded to molest her, the arrest report said.
The victim told police that she never stopped trying to break his grip and that he eventually let her go and pretended that nothing happened, police said.
Later that day, the victim was jumping off of the boat with two other people causing something “important” to fall off. At the end of the day, Luna realized that the item was missing and asked for someone to go back out to the lake with him to find it.
The victim was told to go with Luna despite saying she did not want to, the report said. Luna took the victim back out to the lake and stopped in between a couple of “mountains.”
While the victim was looking for the item, Luna stood up and came behind her. He whispered in her ear that she was the daughter that he “wished he had” or “never had”, the arrest report said.
According to police, the victim said that she felt that her uneasiness caused Luna to tighten his grip around her.
After a couple of minutes, Luna took a “quick” look around for the missing item and then went back to the others. The victim told police that she felt uncomfortable because he did not take much of an effort to look for the missing item.
According to the arrest report, the victim told multiple people about the incident including other members of the church and her legal guardian.
The victim told her legal guardian about the incident in September 2022. The legal guardian held a meeting and decided that the truth would come out and that they would get a sign from God that would cause her to truly believe the victim, the arrest report said.
On Dec. 2, a family friend who grew up with the victim found out about the incident. When he asked the victim’s legal guardian why he was not told sooner, she said that she believed they could figure the situation out on their own, the report said.
According to police, the guardian said that in the previous meeting, they concluded that there was no evidence that the molestation happened and they blamed the victim for not pulling out her phone to record Luna abusing her.
She also said that Luna was a “loveable guy”. When asked what solution they came up with at the meeting, she said that they decided that if it happened again, happened to anyone else, or “if there’s a sign from God,” they will know it happened for sure.
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The family friend of the victim filed a report to CPS.
Why is the church unnamed? It sure sounds like this church is NOT a safe place for minors to be.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I don’t have children. But if I did, I would not see any church as “safe” for them.
Here’s a sign from God: report abuse!
https://maps.co.clark.nv.us/assessor/apps/aowebimages/aowebimage.aspx?deed=20190731:04544: whatever church this man is a pastor of, it probably is not a Roman Catholic parish. This man and his wife bought some property in Clark County Nevada in 2019. Also, because of the listed value of the property as being 245,000 dollars this man and his wife must not be short of funds.