A youth pastor from Council Bluffs, Iowa, was arrested earlier this year on 60 counts of suspected sexual exploitation of a minor by a counselor or therapist after at least eight young men filed complaints that the pastor molested them. The victims allege the pastor had sex with them while praying to help them gain "sexual purity in the eyes of God," according to an affidavit obtained by Omaha's KETV.
Brent Giroeux, 31, told police in February he had sex with four young men starting in 2007 because it was his duty to "help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them]," reports UPI. But since that confession, at least four other men have come forward with complaints.
Giroeux pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced by a judge on Wednesday to 17 years in prison. But the judge suspended the sentence to allow Giroeux to receive sex offender treatment, followed by five years' probation. Giroeux will also register for life as a sex offender.
Giroeux is a married father of four, including two foster children. His wife is currently filing for divorce, and she issued statements urging anyone else victimized by her husband to come forward.
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