Youth minister arrested for molesting young boys
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- A youth minister of a local church has been arrested for molesting four young boys.
Broward deputies say Thiago Fernandes, 24, confessed to sexually assaulting three young boys after an 11-year-old boy informed his parents that Fernandes grabbed his buttocks and threatened to rape him Sunday during evening worship services at the First Christian Church. "The 11-year-old boy had to go to the restroom. He left his mother. He left her side briefly to go to the restroom, and that's when he said he was approached by the minister," said Veda Coleman-Wright of Broward Sheriff's Office. "He threatened to rape him. He also grabbed his bottom. The little boy was able to get away. He did the right thing. He ran, and he went and told his mother."
Church officials say Fernandes works for two separate congregations which operate in the same building. Fernandes works at Igreja Lagoinha USA as youth minster and The First Christian Church as music minister.
Deputies also say Fernandes confessed to the molestation during questioning but also informed them he had sexually assaulted a 7-year-old a boy, a then 9-year-old boy who is now 13 and a 15-year-old victim he molested between the ages of ten and thirteen. "He told us about three additional victims that we didn't know about," said Coleman-Wright.
Fernandes also admitted that he was living in the United States illegally.
Church elder Ricardo Zuniga says the sexual assault will scar the victims for life. "I feel horrible about it, OK, for the, you know, if they are victims, because I know it affects them throughout their life," he said.
Fernandes remains in jail without bond and faces five counts each of sexual battery and molestation. Deputies urge anyone victimized by Fernandes to call the Broward Sheriff Office's sex crimes unit at (954) 321-4240.
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