Trial Set for Former Church Deacon Charged with Sexual Assault of Minors
The former deacon of a Sterling church accused of molesting two teen girls 17 years ago will get his day in court this summer.
Kevin O’Connor, the 64-year-old former deacon of Calvary Temple Ministries in Sterling, was indicted in August, 2018, in a 2003 case involving allegations of sexual abuse against two children. This week, his trial was rescheduled for June 8-11.
O’Connor is charged with forcible sodomy; two counts of aggravated sexual battery by force, threat or intimidation of victims aged 13 or 14; two counts of indecent liberties with a child by custodian; and two counts of aggravated sexual battery by mental incapacity or physical helplessness.
O’Connor’s trial was scheduled for Jan. 6-9 but was delayed after the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office on Dec. 17 requested the court appoint a special prosecutor, since Attorney Matthew P. Snow formerly represented one of the essential witnesses in the case. Under Circuit Court Judge Jeanette A. Irby’s Jan. 9 order, Scott Hook, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fauquier County, will now prosecute the case. Snow has since joined the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office as the department’s chief deputy.
Between April 1 and May 3, 2003, O’Connor allegedly sexually abused two girls aged between 13 and 15 years old. The case was initially reported to the Sheriff’s Office in May 2003, but prosecutors declined to pursue charges at that time. The Sheriff’s Office began re-examining the case in 2012 and arrested O’Connor on Aug. 6, 2018.
O’Connor was initially held without bond. On Aug. 21, 2018, Irby approved O’Connor’s released from jail on a $10,000 secured bond and required him to wear a GPS monitoring device and have no unsupervised contact with minors, among other terms.
Some former Calvary Temple congregation members have claimed that numerous incidents of physical and sexual abuse have occurred at the church. Those critics have described the church as cult-like in its manipulation and control of members and their families.
