The ROC church had initially dismissed the allegations against Pastor G in a May 3 statement as “unsettling rumors and inaccurate news reports” but as more information began to surface, the church noted in another statement on May 23, that their lead pastor had decided to step down from his post temporarily. Five days later, on May 28, the church announced that pastor Helmlinger had voluntarily stepped down from his pastoral duties to deal with his legal troubles.
A swirling controversy over the criminal past and alleged sexual proclivities of the founding pastor of Virginia’s Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) megachurch, Geronimo Aguilar, came to a head on Wednesday when the church’s board announced that it had accepted the resignation of four of its five pastors.

“The Richmond Outreach Center held a Board meeting this evening, June 5, 2013. Upon mutually agreeable terms, we hereby announce that we have accepted the resignations of Pastor Geronimo Aguilar, Pastor Jason Helmlinger, Pastor Andrew Delgado and Pastor Matthew Aguilar,” noted the board in a terse statement posted to its website.

“We wish the best for the pastors and their families. The Richmond Outreach Center remains focused on those in need and we will never stray from this mission,” it added.

Pastor Aguilar, affectionately known as “Pastor G” was extradited to Texas late last month where he is currently facing seven felony charges including aggravated sexual assault of two sisters under age 14, according to an ABC 8News report. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]  These assaults are said to have taken place before Pastor G founded the ROC ministry in 2003. If convicted of the charges he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

The 8News report also noted that executive pastor Jason Helmlinger, a former police officer, was also arrested and charged with a misdemeanor last month for allegedly threatening former ROC church pastor, Allen Caldwell, who was assisting with their investigation of the ROC church’s founding pastor.

Helmlinger reportedly made a “threatening and obscene” phone call to Caldwell after he told 8News that he witnessed allegedly “inappropriate behavior between Pastor G and some church wives.”

“Helmlinger called him and yelled profanities and threatened to do bodily harm to Caldwell, who called police to report the incident,” notes 8News.

The ROC church had initially dismissed the allegations against Pastor G in a May 3 statement as “unsettling rumors and inaccurate news reports” but as more information began to surface, the church noted in another statement on May 23, that their lead pastor had decided to step down from his post temporarily.

Five days later, on May 28, the church announced that pastor Helmlinger had voluntarily stepped down from his pastoral duties to deal with his legal troubles.

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