Police fear a local pastor preyed on girls as young as 10 in the Fort Pierce Haitian community.
Police fear a local pastor preyed on girls as young as 10 in the Fort Pierce Haitian community.
The victim says 57-year-old Pastor Yves Similien, formerly of the First Haitian Christian Church of Fort Pierce, would force the 10 year-old to have sex before he delivered his sermon on Sundays.
His former church on north 9th street in Fort Pierce is now run by another ministry.
The girl told police he swore he’d “kill you and your mother” if she ever told anyone. She waited 2 years to report the assault. After each reported assault, the 10- year-old told police the pastor would drop her at a neighboring church called Common Ground for service, before going to deliver his sermon.
“It certainly is something we hate to see,” said Pastor Todd Smith, Senior Pastor Common Ground Vineyard Church, where the girl would worship, “I’m saddened and shocked. I’ve never seen him before in my life. I have no idea what his connection is, but he is not employed or connected to our church in any way.”
Pastor Similien returned to Florida from New York this week, and turned himself in for failing to pay child support.
