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.
In 2019, Bicente Velasquez Morales, pastor of House of Restoration Ministry in Sarasota, Florida, was arrested and charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a six-year-old girl.
The Herald-Tribune reported at the time:
A Sarasota pastor was arrested Friday evening after allegedly sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl.
Bicente Velasquez Morales, 43, was arrested around 7:10 p.m. Friday on a felony charge of sexual battery of a victim under 12.
Detectives say on Thursday, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office received a report from the girl’s mother that Morales sexually abused her daughter. The mother reported the incident after detectives say her daughter told her about the abuse.
The child said Morales digitally penetrated her on three separate occasions, according to documents from the Sarasota Police Department. In one of the alleged occasions, Morales stopped sexually abusing her because it was time to get ready for church, the victim was cited saying in documents.
Morales is a pastor at the House of Restoration Ministry in Sarasota.
Morales was sentenced to life in prison today.
A Sarasota pastor was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after he was arrested in July 2019 when the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office received a report that he’d sexually abused a 6-year-old child, according to a news release in the case.
Twelfth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Ed Brodsky announced Bicente Velasquez Morales, 47, was convicted on April 19 of sexual battery upon a child less than 12 years of age, and lewd and lascivious molestation upon a child less than 12 years of age. Morales was sentenced to life in prison on both charges, according to the release.
Previous Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporting stated detectives with Manatee County Sheriff’s Office were notified by the child’s mother that Morales sexually abused her daughter.
The news release stated that Morales “used his position of trust within this family to take advantage of a 6-year-old child,” but the victim was taught which parts of her body shouldn’t be touched by anyone other than a doctor. She confided in her brother and mother that she’d been touched inappropriately. Her mother then alerted the police.
The child told her mother that she’d been assaulted three times by Morales, stating the pastor had “digitally touched and penetrated her” while at Morales’s home, according to the affidavit in the case.
At the time, Morales was a pastor at the House of Restoration Ministry in Sarasota, according to previous reporting.
“Taking advantage of a little girl is never acceptable and will not be tolerated in our community,” said Assistant State Attorney Kate Metz, who prosecuted the case. Metz praised Detective Maria Llovio’s efforts, stating the detective conducted a thorough investigation and left no stone unturned.
“Based on the strength of the victim’s testimony, the defendant’s own statements, and the investigation by Detective Llovio, we were able to hold this defendant accountable and get a dangerous, manipulative predator off the street,” Metz said.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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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Life in prison is an appropriate sentence for this behavior. It’s good that this child’s mother taught her about the places someone isn’t allowed to touch your body. My mom taught me that too – it turns out my mom was sexually abused by an uncle when she was 5 years old, so she taught me brother and me about bodily autonomy.
If I’d had children, the first things I would’ve taught them would have been about their bodies. (Yes, I was sexually abused.) I am glad the girl’s mother taught her: That pastor is getting what he deserves.
Ironic, isn’t it, that he is the pastor of the House of Restoration.
I’m glad that there were no pleas or anything to reduce the sentence !! I think one reason why there’s so much of this going on is because penalties for abusing or killing children have always been really lenient,until very recently. Maybe if there’d been a law calling for such offenders to be shot- no exceptions, there would be super low amount of these kinds of horrors ! 💀⚰️