A Bronx minister was arrested and charged with rape on Friday after reportedly having sex with a parishioner, a girl from the time she was 12 years old according to prosecutors.
The minister named Michael Clare is a 38 year-old head of the Harvest Worship Center in Wakefield. It’s now said that the girl who is 15 years old is pregnant.
On June 14 of last year Clare was arrested on second-degree rape charges but it wasn’t until Friday that a Grand Jury moved the charges to first-degree rape charges.
The Jamaican born Clare was a child prodigy preacher who became a pastor at the age of 26 according to data from his MySpace page that also shows videos and pictures of him preaching and promoting him as a stand up person.
The grand jury subsequently elevated the charges against Clare to include the more serious offense of rape in the first degree and at the arraignment on the indictment Acting State Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez raised the bail to $50,000 cash or $25,000 bond. The increase, on the People’s application, was granted after the court was told that DNA evidence had linked the defendant to the victim who had become pregnant at 15.
He is facing a maximum sentence of up to 25 years imprisonment if convicted of the top charge in the indictment, rape in the first degree, a Class B felony offense.