A longtime Pennsylvania pastor of Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center in North Philadelphia is accused of sexually abusing three people, including two members of his family, when they were minors, according to prosecutors in Montgomery County.
The 59-year-old pastor, Rev. Mark Hatcher, of Blue Bell, was charged on Wednesday with rape, statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor, and related offenses. Hatcher remained in custody as prosecutors successfully encouraged a district judge in Blue Bell to deny him bond, calling him a “danger to the community,” according to court records.
Hatcher’s lawyer, R. Emmett Madden, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the pastor maintains his innocence and looks forward to defending against the charges in court.
”These are unsubstantiated allegations from 15 years ago with no corroborating evidence of any kind,” Madden said. “I’ve received significant outreach from family, friends, and members of the community, which all indicates the opposite of what was alleged.”
The accusations against the pastor— who has overseen Holy Ghost for decades, succeeding his father in that role — date back to 2000, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his arrest.
In January this year, two of Hatcher’s relatives told Whitpain Township police that he sexually abused them at his Blue Bell home, according to the affidavit. One of the victims told officers that Hatcher sexually assaulted her in 2000 when she was 15, while another victim, who is a male, told police that Hatcher sexually assaulted him at least five times, beginning in 2007 when he was 6 years old.
The third victim said she was 13 in 2006 when she went to dinner with Pastor Hatcher and he stopped by to check on a church building project, according to the affidavit and public records. They walked into the building, the affidavit said, and the girl sat on an old mattress while Hatcher examined a light switch. Hatcher then walked over, pinned her down, and raped her, covering her mouth as the victim attempted to scream for help, according to the affidavit.
The victim reported the rape to Philadelphia police in 2008, but Hatcher was never charged. Seth Williams was Philadelphia’s DA at the time. A current spokesperson for the DA’s Office, Jane Roh, said Montgomery County reached out to their Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit in January, and they recovered the old case records.
Notes in the file, according to Roh, say the victim was believed, and that detectives and prosecutors found her account to be credible. However, for some reason, prosecutors did not pursue charges thinking they could meet the burden of proof in court, Roh said.
According to Roh, those charges are moving forward now and will be prosecuted in Montgomery County.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), an advocacy group for people who’ve been abused by members of the religious community, said it stands in solidarity with the victims.
“We know that delayed disclosure of such abuse is common and we encourage anyone who may have suffered similar harm to report their information to law enforcement. Furthermore, given the age and long career of the accused, we believe there may be more victims out there,” said Mike McDonnell, SNAP’s spokesperson.
