A Baptist chaplain at a privately-run ICE lockup in Pennsylvania is facing accusations of sexually abusing a detainee over the course of more than a year, beginning shortly after he gained her trust by gifting her a Bible.
Pastor Mark Melhorn, 67, engaged in "extraordinary misconduct” at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center “under the guise of providing pastoral services,” according to a federal lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
His “repeated and pervasive” misconduct started with sexualized comments and gestures, with Melhorn telling the plaintiff in the case, who is identified as Jane Doe in court filings, that she was “hermosa,” “bonita,” and “preciosa,” according to the complaint.
“Melhorn would ask Ms. Doe if she liked how he looked, stare at her breasts, and lick his lips while staring at her,” the complaint alleges. “While Melhorn and detained women sang hymns together, he would position himself so that he could stare at Ms. Doe from behind. When she tried to change her position so that he could not stare at her from behind, he would change his position and continue staring at her.”
On numerous occasions, Melhorn approached Doe and placed his hands on her head as if he was praying for her, but instead ran them down her body suggestively, according to the complaint. From there, it says things got worse until Melhorn one day entered Doe’s cell and allegedly sexually assaulted her. He then warned Doe not to tell anybody about what had happened, because “even if she did, nothing would happen.”
