Harlem Pastor Arrested For Groping Teen, Prosecutors Say

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem pastor is facing charges for groping a teenager inside his church, prosecutors announced.

Jeffery Brown, 57, was arraigned Monday on charges of forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sex abuse, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

Brown is accused of grabbing a 14-year-old girl's buttocks on Saturday, prosecutors said. He was arrested inside the Tabernacle of Deliverance for All People church on Sunday and arraigned in Manhattan on Monday, prosecutors said.

The church, located on Frederick Douglass Boulevard between West 153rd and 154th streets, is home to two congregations. Brown, who does not lead the congregation the 14-year-old is part of, denied wrongdoing, the New York Post reported.

"This complainant has made allegations like this against other members of my client’s congregation and his own congregation," Brown's lawyer Lisa Gamlil, of the Legal Aid Society, said in court, as reported by the Post. "My client is someone who has an excellent reputation and is a pillar in his community."

A judge ordered Brown not to enter the Frederick Douglass Boulevard church building for the duration of an order of protection, the Post reported. Brown was released without bail and is due back in court on Feb. 21, prosecutors said.

Photo by Google Maps street view