Baptist youth pastor David Esarey was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
David Esarey mouthed the words, "I love you," to his sobbing wife and then shrugged after a Superior Court jury of three men and three women found him guilty of second-degree sexual assault, promoting a minor in an obscene performance, possession of child pornography and three counts of risk of injury to a minor.
He faces up to 95 years in prison when he is sentenced
Esarey waited to have sex with his wife until they were married. Then he stalked and assaulted a 15-year-old girl. These predators are an odd lot. It does not reconcile how can they live two lives, an honorable public life and an decrepit private life. It reminds me of serial killers I've read about. They assume the role of loving husbands yet at times are horrible butchers, their wives completely unaware. I wonder if his wife knew?
I'd love to blame Baptists, but I see it too often in other religions. What motivates a man, a pastor no less, to take advantage of a young girl like this? I'll never know.
Many of you know I'm in China on a business trip. Each night I sit at a bar drinking soda water (wink, wink) and talking with my friends. We also talk to a half dozen beautiful young girls who work the bar and restaurant floor each night, all around 22 or 23. I'm near 50 now, when I look at these girls I see young women the age of my children and in need of protection, not girls ready for conquest. I see them through the eyes of a father. I recognize they are beautiful, but my thoughts don't go down the road of sexual conquest. I think I'm normal in this mindset, at least by comparison to my friends. When I read about youth pastors like Esarey, I recoil. Their actions are horrible. I keep looking for a common thread. I think I've found it… power over others. Power and the autonomy granted to those in clergy can lead to corruption of the worst sort. Teachers, pastors, and counselors, they all have this type of power. Why do they choose to abuse it?
