Yakima County prosecutors have charged a Sunnyside pastor with sexually assaulting a woman he knows.
Abner Vazquez, 54, is charged with a single count of third-degree assault and two counts of taking indecent liberties, all felony charges.
Vazquez, pastor at El Gran Rey Jesus church, is currently out on $10,000 bail and is still preaching.
"I'm not guilty," Vazquez said, when contacted by phone Tuesday about the charges and his remaining in the pulpit. He declined further comment, referring further questions to his attorney, identified in court records as Ulvar Klein.
The Yakima Herald-Republic typically does not publish the names of sexual assault victims without their consent.
The woman told Sunnyside police April 9 that she had been sexually assaulted by Vazquez that day, and that it was not the first time Vazquez has made sexual advances toward her.
She said the first incident was on April 4, when Vazquez grabbed her wrists, pushed her on to a bed and groped her thigh, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by police. She believes that Vazquez would have raped her had his wife, who was in the room, not told him to leave.
On April 8, she was at Vazquez's house when he came up and pushed his groin against her buttocks, the affidavit said, and she moved to get away and told him to stop. She said Vazquez laughed at her and said she was being mean.
She was at the house on April 9 when Vazquez grabbed her by the wrists and forcefully kissed her on the neck and face, and when she pulled away, he grabbed her breast. She told Sunnyside detectives that she had seen Vazquez grab and try to kiss two other women, the affidavit said.
Vazquez was taken into custody April 10 and posted bail two days later. In addition to setting the $10,000 bail, Yakima County Superior Court Judge Sonia Rodriguez True also ordered Vazquez to not come within 1,000 feet of the woman.
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