Lake Forest Youth Pastor to Answer to Rape Allegations

A former Lake Forest church pastor was scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow on charges of raping one of his congregants as well as sexually assaulting three others, prosecutors said today.

Sean Patrick Aday, 38, of Lake Forest was a youth pastor at Grace Community Church in Lake Forest when he was accused of attacking a series of young women either on church grounds or outings, according to Roxi Fyad of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

During the course of the investigation several alleged victims were contacted, each indicating they had been assaulted by Aday over the course of the last several years, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Jeff Hallock has said,

“The sexual assaults occurred inside the church, on church property, in various places in Orange County and during church-sponsored, international trips,” Hallock said.

One woman alleges she was fondled against her will while she was restrained and “induced” into touching him in a sexual manner between July and October, prosecutors allege.

Aday is also accused of sexual battery on four separate occasions with three victims between November 30 of last year and Oct. 1 of this year, according to prosecutors.

The woman who alleges she was raped contacted sheriff’s deputies on Oct. 1, Fyad said. Aday was arrested Nov. 7 and was charged Nov. 20, Fyad said.

Based on the allegations, Grace Community Church immediately fired Aday in October 2015. Investigators believe there might be additional victims who have yet to report their incidents.

Aday, who was out of custody in lieu of $500,000 bail, could face up to 29 years in prison if convicted at trial. He is charged with one count each of rape, sodomy by force, sexual penetration by a foreign object, and three counts of sexual battery by restraint, all felonies. He also faces four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.

City News Service