Pastor Luis Clarke, 38, spent a year forcing a 15-year-old girl into sex acts and nude poses, Pembroke Pines police said on Thursday. The girl went along with Clarke’s sexual demands because he threatened to report her family’s illegal immigration status if she told anyone.
Pastor Clarke admitted to having sex with the girl twice.
On April 25, 2019 Pastor Clarke was arrested and charged with 20 counts of sexual battery on a victim between 12 and 18, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of directing a sexual performance by a child and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition by an adult on a child under 15.
The sexual abuse occurred between August 2016 and February 2017 when Clarke was a part-time youth pastor at Abraza tu Sueño Church in Pembroke Pines, Florida. The victim was 15 and 16 when Pastor Clarke persuaded her to engage in approximately 20 sexual acts. The victim said he’d pick her up at her high school, take her to his Pembroke Pines home and have sex with her.
These sexual acts took place in the defendant’s bedroom, living room area and once in the defendant’s vehicle at the clubhouse in his community. The defendant would also instruct the victim to get undressed and he would photograph her with his iPad.
During one incident, Pastor Clarke picked the victim and a 15-year-old boy, identified as CM, up and took them to his home, where he activated the alarm so they couldn’t leave.
While in the living room area of the residence, the defendant instructed the victim to remove her clothes. The victim complied with the defendant’s request because he was very angry and she feared for her and CM’s safety.
Pastor Clarke then raped her. During the act, he yelled at CM to watch.
The victim never reported the sexual acts to her parents and went along with Pastor Clarke’s request because he threatened to report her and her family’s illegal status to authorities.
Pastor Clarke was arrested at his home on Thursday.
After being read his rights, Pastor Clarke admitted to having two sexual encounters with the teen girl in his home. He denied ever forcing CM to watch. He also told police that he had relations with the teen girl in other cities.
The teen girl victim is now an adult. She came forward to police on April 3.
