A youth pastor in Council Bluffs, Iowa has been arrested and charged on 60 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor by a counsellor or therapist.  The allegations surfaced after eight men filed complaints that the pastor slept with them in order to help them gain “sexual purity in the eyes of God,” according to an affidavit obtained by Omaha’s KETV.

Brent Giroeux, confessed to officers hat he slept with four young men because it was his job to “help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them].”

But since the pastor confessed about the first four men, others have come forward with the same complaint.  The pastor has pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse and was given 17 years in prison.  But the judge has suspended the sentence to allow the man to get sex offender treatment and probation.

The defendant was a youth volunteer for Victory Fellowship Church from 2006.  The young men reported the abuse to the head pastor, who urged the man to turn himself in to police.

Giroeux is a married father of four.  His wife has filed for divorce and is urging other victims to step forward.

Read more: All Christian News