Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA · 2016

Pennsylvania: founder and lead pastor convicted of indecent assault after using an offer to pray for an employee as pretext for assault

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

founder and lead pastor, Calvary Vision Church

Organization

Calvary Vision Church

Spiritual nexus

M.K. first knew Haahs through his church's prayer meetings; the charged assault itself was initiated under the explicit pretext of pastoral prayer -- Haahs asked M.K. if he could pray for her, led her to a couch, hugged her while praying for her, and used that embrace to restrain her during the assault, making his pastoral role the direct operative mechanism of the assault rather than incidental background.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Sacred sex, purity, or sexual-energy claim

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2021-09-15 · jury verdict and sentence

    Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. A jury found Timothy H. Haahs, founder and lead pastor of Calvary Vision Church, guilty of indecent assault without consent for an assault on M.K., who first became acquainted with him through his church's monthly prayer meetings before working for his company. He was sentenced to one year of probation.

  2. 2022-12-19 · direct appeal, No. 2358 EDA 2021

    Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Judgment of sentence affirmed.

Appellate history

  1. Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the judgment of sentence on December 19, 2022.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • invoked his role as pastor, asking 'can I pray for her,' to obtain physical closeness before the assault
  • used the prayer embrace to physically restrain the victim during the assault
  • victim first knew him through his church's monthly prayer meetings before becoming his employee

Primary record

Sources

official court judgment appellate judgment Commonwealth v. Haahs, 2022 PA Super 217 (Dec. 19, 2022).

Pennsylvania Superior Court opinion affirming Timothy Haahs's conviction for indecent assault, detailing how Haahs, founder and lead pastor of Calvary Vision Church, used an offer to pray for the victim as the means of physically restraining and assaulting her.

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