Pastor accused of sexually abusing girls he met at California churches, police say

An Orange County pastor was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting three girls he met at different churches, police said.

Carlos Ramirez Valdez, a 57-year-old Riverside resident, faces charges of five counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14 and three counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 or younger, City News Service reported. The outlet said Valdez also ”faces a sentencing enhancement for multiple victims.”

He was arrested on Sept. 17 at a construction site where he works, Santa Ana Police Cpl. Sonia Rojo told City News Service.

Between 2014 and 2017, Valdez was a member of Iglesia De Dios Ebenezer Church in Santa Ana, a news release from the city’s police department said. During that time, Valdez lured an 8-year-old girl who was attending church into a van and sexually assaulted her, then repeated the same behavior for the next three years, police said.

In January 2020, the Riverside Police Department began investigating a complaint against Valdez, alleging that he began abusing another 8-year-old girl in 2017, the news release said.

Also that January, the Garden Grove Police Department received a complaint from a third victim, who said Valdez abused them in 2015, according to Santa Ana police.

In both cases, the victims knew Valdez from church, police said.

Valdez is a pastor at the International Mission Church USA in Santa Ana, the news release said. Before that, he was a member of Iglesia De Dios Ebenezer Church from 2014 to 2017.

Valdez was booked into an Orange County jail and is being held on a $1 million bail, according to jail records. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 6.

Santa Ana police said there may be more victims and ask anyone with further information to contact Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS or Detective J. Gaeta at 714-245-8350 or jgaeta@santa-ana.org.

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