A 59-year-old Columbia City pastor was convicted Feb. 15 of the sexual assault of three disabled members of his church.
Robert M. Crouse, the pastor of the Faith Baptist Church, faces up to 48 years in prison on three charges of rape when he is sentenced on Feb. 28.
According to a press release from Whitley County Prosecutor D.J. Sigler, Crouse would use the youth group to clean the church, and isolate the three victims, all siblings. Later he changed the arrangement to have only those three present.
According to Sigler, the victims are ages 21, 24, and 25, but suffer from significant intellectual disabilities, leaving them functioning at ages near the 1st grade level.
The victims testified during the trial in Whitley County Circuit Court, detailing additional physical and emotional abuse that would occur during the sexual asaults.
The case was investigated by the Columbia City Police Department.
Crouse has a prior 2013 felony conviction for theft, accused of bilking victims out of thousands of dollars for funeral monuments that were never delivered, according to the release.
