News
2006-08-31
Pastor who
allegedly raped woman possessed by "lesbian demon" is
indicted
A Texas pastor
accused of raping a church member at his house last year
after telling her she was
A Texas pastor
accused of raping a church member at his house last year
after telling her she was possessed by a lesbian demon has
been indicted. Leonard Ray Owens, 63, who is free on
$25,000 bail, is now awaiting trial on a charge of
sexual assault, a second-degree felony punishable by two
to 20 years in prison. He was arrested in November.
Police began
investigating Owens last year after a 22-year-old woman
reported that Owens raped her twice at his Fort Worth home.
The woman told police that in July, several months
after she began attending the Prayer House of Faith,
she went to Owens's home for counseling following a
miscarriage.
Owens told her
that a sex spirit and lesbian demon were inside her and
needed to be cast out, police said. The pastor then asked
her to lie on the floor and began yelling at her as if
she were a demon, saying, "Loose her in the name of
Jesus," according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The woman told
police that Owens pulled down her pants as he called for
the demons to come out. When she tried to get up, he pushed
her down, the affidavit said. The pastor then began to
fight with her as if she were a demon before climbing
on top of her, pinning her down, and raping her,
police said.
Then Owens, a
self-proclaimed prophet, ordered her to wash her face in
the name of Jesus and to read Psalm 105:15, which says to do
no harm to prophets, the woman told police. The woman
told officers that Owens raped her again a month
later, after he asked her to go to his house to pray
for another woman.
Owens has denied
having sexual contact with the woman, police said. (AP)
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