Richmond Area Minister Gets 3 Years for Sexual Relationships with Teen Girls

Once again we see a minister from a far right fundamentalist denomination going to jail for sex offenses against minors.  I'm not saying that "liberal" denominations don't have some bad apples, but it seems that a disproportionate number of the sexual predators in ministry come from conservative denominations that are utterly obsessed with policing people's sex lives.  A case in point: Troy A. Mitten, a youth minister at Trinity Assembly of God in Chesterfield County, Virginia.  The Richmond Times Dispatch has the tawdry and all too common details (note how he preyed on the most vulnerable - just like many a Catholic priest - and Southern Baptist pastor):

As a talented and engaging youth minister for Trinity Assembly of God in Chesterfield County, Troy A. Mitten had a gift when it came to nurturing the spiritual and emotional needs of the church’s young set.

“The congregation loved and respected him,” said the Rev. Quarles Lowell, the former lead pastor of the defunct church that met at 233 N. Courthouse Road.

But unbeknownst to many, Mitten had a salacious side that a prosecutor described as “not overtly sexual.” He used his exceptional skills as a youth leader and mentor to subtly prey on at least three of the church’s young teenage girls in the 1990s.

Nearly two decades later, Mitten, 53, on Thursday was sentenced to 10 years in prison with seven suspended for taking indecent liberties with two teenage parishioners beginning when they were 14.

In sentencing Mitten, Judge Frederick G. Rockwell III said the pastor used the power of his position to sexually exploit the girls. And he could not escape punishment despite all his positive ministerial work.

Both victims, now 32 and 35, testified about their yearslong ordeal and how the man they once loved as a father figure and spiritual counselor had betrayed them. The sexual contact began after Mitten gained their trust and affection.

One of the women bluntly described Mitten as a “patient predator.” 

“He patiently waited for me to trust him” before initiating sexual contact, she said. The other victim, who was similarly groomed for a sexual relationship, said, “I wanted a dad, I wanted to be loved, and I wanted a family.”

The attention, however, eventually progressed to rubbing and touching, which the girls initially discounted. Mitten began talking to them about sex and sexuality as they grew older, and that developed into inappropriate touching and various sex acts in a Wendy’s parking lot and on bike rides into the woods.