A youth pastor at a now-defunct Pembroke Pines church coerced a young girl into having sex with him by threatening to turn her and her family into immigration authorities, police said.
Luis Clarke, 38, sexually assaulted the girl over six months, beginning when she was 15 in August 2016 until February 2017 when she was 16, an arrest report said.
Clark was a part-time youth pastor at Abrazo tu Sueno Church, 9626 Pines Boulevard, and police are concerned he may have sexually victimized other minors, Capt. Al Xiques, spokesman for Pembroke Pines police said Thursday.
“We are asking any parent or guardian whose child may have come into contact with the suspect through the church or otherwise, to please speak to them regarding this matter,” Xiques said. “If there is a concern of potential wrongdoing, they are urged to contact the Pembroke Pines Police Department.”
The church was in operation between 2014 and 2018, he said.
Clarke was arrested Thursday morning and charged with 25 felony counts, including sexual battery of a minor and false imprisonment, records show. He is being held in the Broward Main Jail in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
The girl “never reported the sexual acts to her parents and went along with [Clarke’s] request because he threatened to report her and her family’s illegal status to authorities,” according to the report.
The sexual abuse took place at Clarke’s Pembroke Pines home in the 1300 block of Northwest 143rd Ave., police said.
The youth pastor would pick up the girl from school, she told investigators, make her undress and then rape and molest her and take photos of her with his iPad.
One time, Clarke picked up the girl and a 15-year-old boy at a Hollywood park, took them to his residence where he activated his home alarm so that they couldn’t leave without triggering it and forced the boy to watch Clarke have sex with the girl, according to the arrest report.
“[Clarke] continued to yell at [the boy] demanding that he watch the sexual act,” Detective Alkie Lewis-Siminies wrote in a police report.
During the sexual assault, Clarke repeatedly shouted at the boy, called him gay and proclaimed more than once that the girl “belongs to him,” the boy told investigators.
It was the boy who went to police on April 3 to report Clarke, Xiques said.
Police made their arrest after Clarke left his home a little before 7 a.m. Thursday.
Once in custody, Clarke gave a sworn statement and admitted to two sexual encounters with the girl. He told police the boy had been to his home but he denied having sex with the girl in front of him, the detective’s report said.
“The suspect also admitted to several other similar crimes involving [the girl] which occurred in other jurisdictions,” Xiques said. Authorities in those locations have been notified, he said.
tealanez@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4542 or Twitter @talanez