Pentecostal 'Pastor' Yersson David Solarte and the Epidemic of Child Sexual Abuse in Pentecostal Communities

The Betrayal of Trust: Pentecostal Pastor Yersson David Solarte and the Epidemic of Child Sexual Abuse in Pentecostal Communities

The recent arrest of Yersson David Solarte, a 33-year-old Pentecostal pastor, has once again brought to light the disturbing reality of child sexual abuse within religious communities. On May 7, 2025, Solarte was arrested in Virginia while on a family trip, charged with sexual battery of a minor and lewd and lascivious molestation. This case, involving the abuse of two underage girls at Ipul Pentecostal Church in Sanford, Florida, underscores a broader pattern of hypocrisy among some Pentecostal leaders who proclaim holiness, claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and profess strict adherence to biblical teachings—yet engage in heinous acts against the most vulnerable. This blog post examines Solarte’s case, highlights other instances of child sexual abuse by Pentecostal leaders, and reflects on the stark contradiction between their professed faith and their actions, particularly in light of Jesus’ words about harming children.

Yersson David Solarte: A Predator in the Pulpit

Yersson David Solarte, a married father and former pastor at Ipul Pentecostal Church (Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamericana Orlando Norte), was accused of sexually assaulting two underage girls who were members of his congregation. According to the Sanford Police Department, the investigation began on April 10, 2025, following reports of an “inappropriate relationship” between Solarte and the victims. The police found that Solarte had inappropriately touched both girls and sexually assaulted one of them on church grounds, including in his office and the multimedia room. One victim reported that Solarte forced her to sit on his lap during the assaults, while the second girl alleged multiple instances of abuse, including an incident where Solarte “forcefully” grabbed her face to kiss her, expressed romantic feelings, and even claimed they were a “couple” after unzipping his pants (People.com, May 10, 2025; Miami Herald, May 9, 2025).

Shockingly, Solarte reportedly justified his actions with a chilling rationale, telling one of the girls, “We only live once,” a phrase more associated with carefree indulgence than the moral responsibility of a pastor (DNYuz.com, May 10, 2025). This flippant attitude betrays the sacred trust placed in him as a spiritual leader. Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith condemned Solarte’s actions, stating, “People like this are a special class of criminal, who use their position of trust to prey on innocent victims. Solarte is now behind bars where he belongs” (Sanford Police Department, May 8, 2025). Authorities have since removed Solarte from his pastoral role and are urging other potential victims to come forward, suspecting there may be more who have not yet spoken out (Orlando Sentinel, May 8, 2025).

A Broader Pattern: Child Sexual Abuse in Pentecostal Communities

Solarte’s case is not an isolated incident but part of a troubling pattern within Pentecostal and broader evangelical communities, where leaders often claim to be anointed by the Holy Spirit and uphold strict biblical standards, yet exploit their authority to harm children. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has documented how some pedophiles are drawn to the ministry precisely because it provides access to children while shielding them from scrutiny. Clergy are often given “blind obedience,” especially in conservative settings, and congregations may protect abusers while ostracizing victims (FFRF.org, 1988).

One notable case involved a Pentecostal youth pastor in Texas, Rob Shiflet, who was convicted in 2021 of sexually assaulting two girls on church youth trips. A 2019 investigation by Denton Bible Church revealed that Shiflet had abused 14 girls across two churches, exploiting his role in a theologically conservative environment where such abuse often goes unaddressed (Newsweek, December 9, 2022). Similarly, in 2010, the Archdiocese of Baltimore reported allegations against Father John Wielebski, a former Trinitarian priest who served in several parishes, including some with Pentecostal affiliations, for sexual misconduct in the 1980s (Archdiocese of Baltimore, 2023). These cases highlight a recurring theme: abusers often thrive in environments where their spiritual authority is unquestioned, and their claims of holiness provide a veneer of trustworthiness.

Pentecostal leaders frequently emphasize their spiritual purity, claiming to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” and living by the Bible’s teachings. They often preach about moral absolutes, speaking in tongues, and experiencing divine encounters, which can elevate their status in the eyes of their congregations. Yet, this self-proclaimed holiness starkly contrasts with their actions when they prey on children. The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding notes that in theologically conservative churches, where trust in leaders is high and protective measures may be lacking, abusers find it easier to groom victims (CPYU.org, 2018). This dynamic creates a perfect storm for abuse, as the very communities that claim to be the most “Bible-believing” become breeding grounds for exploitation.

Jesus’ Words on Harming Children: A Condemnation of Hypocrisy

The actions of Solarte and other Pentecostal abusers stand in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus, particularly His stern warnings about harming children. In Matthew 18:6, Jesus declares, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (NIV). This vivid imagery underscores the severity of exploiting or harming a child, especially one who trusts in Christ. Jesus’ words are a direct rebuke to those who, under the guise of spiritual leadership, betray the innocence of the vulnerable.

The hypocrisy of Pentecostal abusers like Solarte is glaring. They claim to be vessels of the Holy Spirit, preaching sermons about righteousness and holiness, yet their actions reveal a profound moral failure. The FFRF highlights how church teachings of “forgiveness” can be misused to protect abusers at the expense of victims, further compounding the harm (FFRF.org, 1988). Solarte’s alleged use of the phrase “we only live once” to justify his abuse mocks the biblical call to holiness and betrays the trust of his congregation. Such behavior not only violates the ethical standards of Christianity but also desecrates the sacred role of a pastor, who is meant to shepherd and protect the flock, not prey on it.

The Hypocrisy of Pentecostals: A Call for Accountability

The cases of Yersson David Solarte, Rob Shiflet, and others reveal a deep hypocrisy within some Pentecostal circles. These leaders often position themselves as moral exemplars, claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit and devoted to biblical truth, yet their actions directly contradict their professed beliefs. The Bible calls for leaders to be “above reproach” (1 Timothy 3:2), a standard that Solarte and others have grievously failed to meet. Their abuse of power not only harms their victims but also undermines the credibility of the Church as a whole, alienating those who seek genuine spiritual guidance.

The Pentecostal emphasis on spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues and divine healing, can create an environment where leaders are seen as untouchable, anointed figures. This perception often discourages victims from coming forward, as they fear disbelief or retribution, as noted in the FFRF report (FFRF.org, 1988). Moreover, the culture of forgiveness within these communities can lead to abusers being quietly reassigned rather than held accountable, a pattern seen in various denominations (The Guardian, 2016). This systemic failure to protect children reveals a disconnect between the Pentecostal claim of being “Spirit-filled” and the reality of unchecked sin within their ranks.

Conclusion: A Call for Justice and Reform

The arrest of Yersson David Solarte is a grim reminder of the ongoing crisis of child sexual abuse within religious communities, including Pentecostal churches. His actions, along with those of other abusers like Rob Shiflet, expose a troubling hypocrisy: leaders who claim to be holy, filled with the Holy Spirit, and devoted to the Bible, yet exploit their positions to harm the innocent. Jesus’ warning in Matthew 18:6 serves as a sobering indictment of such behavior, calling for justice and protection for the vulnerable.

The Church must confront this hypocrisy head-on by implementing robust safeguards, holding abusers accountable, and prioritizing the voices of victims over the reputations of leaders. Congregations should demand transparency and reject the culture of blind obedience that enables abuse. As believers, we must heed Jesus’ call to protect “these little ones,” ensuring that the Church becomes a true sanctuary—not a hunting ground—for the most vulnerable among us.

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Sources:

• People.com, “Pastor Is Accused of Sexually Assaulting 2 Girls at a Florida Church,” May 10, 2025.
• Miami Herald, “Pastor Molested Girls in His Church Office: Florida Police,” May 9, 2025.
• DNYuz.com, “Accused Pedophile Pastor Allegedly Sexually Assaulted 2 Girls at Florida Church,” May 10, 2025.
• Sanford Police Department, Media Release, May 8, 2025.
• Orlando Sentinel, “Former Sanford Pastor Arrested in Virginia, Charged with Sex Crimes,” May 8, 2025.
• Freedom From Religion Foundation, “Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children,” 1988.
• Newsweek, “10 Texas Pastors Have Been Charged with Sexually Abusing Children This Year,” December 9, 2022.
• Archdiocese of Baltimore, “List of Priests and Brothers Accused of Child Sexual Abuse,” 2023.
• The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, “Youth Ministry… Addressing The Sad Reality of Sexual Abuse,” 2018.
• The Guardian, “He Was a Monster: How Priest Child Abuse Tore Apart Pennsylvania Towns,” 2016.
• The Holy Bible, New International Version, Matthew 18:6, 1 Timothy 3:2.

Florida pastor Yersson David Solarte accused of sexually assaulting two young girls inside church

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Libidinous Youth at World Youth Day 2023 Seeking Sexual Hookups on Gay App Grindr

World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal has just been completed. The theme according to the website is this: 

"«Mary arose and went with haste» (Lk 1:39) is the bible quote chosen by Pope Francis as the motto of the World Youth Day that will be held for the first time in the capital city of Lisbon, Portugal. The biblical phrase (a quote from the Gospel of St. Luke) opens the account of the Visitation (Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth), a biblical episode following the Annunciation (the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God, and the theme of the last WYD, in Panama).

During their conversation of the Annunciation, the angel also tells Mary that her older cousin, thought to be sterile, is pregnant. After affirming to the angel ” Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word ” (Lk 1:38), it is then that Mary sets out for Ain Karim, a village near Jerusalem where Elizabeth lived and was awaiting the birth of John, who would become Saint John the Baptist.

Mary of Nazareth is the great figure of the Christian journey. She teaches us to say yes to God. She was the protagonist of the last edition of WYD and will be so once again in Lisbon." (source: https://www.lisboa2023.org/en/theme)

World Youth Day is a big event that brings in hundreds of thousands to even millions of young people from all over the world. It has been coined as the "Catholic Woodstock." Woodstock, for those of you who are not aware of it, was an event in the 1960s held by young people in New York State. These young people gathered, not for Mary of Jesus or even the Pope, but to promote a hedonistic lifestyle of sex, adultery, lust, and drugs.  World Youth Day is supposed to be a counter to this. It was created by Saint Pope John Paul II. I was privileged to have attended his last one in 2002 in Toronto, Canada. I and several others representing the Archdiocese of New York and St. Dominic parish in the Bronx.

I remember it was a huge hardship. It drained all of us. We had to go to daily events all over Toronto in the hot Canadian weather which was a different type of heat from that of New York City. In New York City, we often feel the heat from the concrete. However, in Canada, we felt the heat directly from the sunlight which caused skin burns and blisters! Moreover, we had to walk to most of our destinations.  In fact, we had to walk about 9 or 11 miles to Downsview Park for the Vigil and Mass. It was extremely exhausting. Upon arrival, we had to find a place to camp. Despite being with fellow Catholics, there was a sense of competition with other youths refusing to allow even clergy and religious to camp beside them. They were territorial. That was a huge turn-off. These kids really were selfish. Then, I witnessed nudity, inappropriate kissing, and groping among the youths and even saw some smoking marijuana. I knew it was the drug because being from The Bronx, I am familiar with the acrid smell. 

If that was not bad enough, while online to get water, there was pushing and shoving that got so bad that I had to lose my cool and yell at the people and nearly got into a scuffle with an older man. It was extremely humid and hot, and the stench was unbearable of young body odor after a night in the heat with no showers.  It even rained on us. We were all wet and miserable. After the announcers told us to rest so as to prepare for the Holy Father's arrival in the morning, we were interrupted by rock music and even the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal playing music. We literally got no sleep.  In fact, during the Papal Mass I was falling in and out of sleep.  That was a different kind of World Youth Day. The main difference was the lack of social media. We had cell phones, but they were just to make calls. Some may have had texting capabilities. However, the World Youth Days after 2005 evolved with social media and newer devices.

While there were things that raised flags during World Youth Day 2023 which many Catholics discussed on social media such as the lack of modesty by female dancers, Holy Communion in plastic discount store bowls, comments made by Pope Francis about soccer and everyone belonging in the Church, there was a bigger problem with the Catholic youth themselves participating!  Unfortunately, this added a new problem. 2 Timothy 2:22 says:"Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." After World Youth Day in Panama, we at Sacerdotus were informed of young people and even priests using the Gay app Grindr to 'hook up.'  It was appalling and completely contrary to what World Youth Day is supposed to be about. Granted, we all are sinners. No one is perfect, however, as Catholics we expect the people attending World Youth Day to know better; to have more sense than those who are not practicing the faith or any faith.  The Catechism states:

Chastity and homosexuality

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Scripture tells us that sins of the flesh, lust, and so on are not supposed to be part of the Catholic life:

Psalms 101:3

I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.

 

1 Corinthians 6:13

You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

1 John 2:16

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Galatians 5:16

Walk in the Spirit

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 8:6

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

James 1:14-15

but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

This does not mean that flesh is evil or sinful. The metaphor of "flesh" means desires for sex outside of marriage and perverted desires within marriage. Just because one is married in the Church does not mean one can engage in every perversion of sex. Sex and the body are something sacred and meant for the Lord. This brings us back to World Youth Day. Learning that some young people are using the event to explore their bodies and sexuality is disgusting. It is understandable, they are kids with raging hormones. Psychology tells us that our brains are hardwired for the three F's: fleeing, fighting, and fornicating. Some often use a four-letter f-word for the latter!  This is the animalistic part of the human body. We have to survive and reproduce. This makes sense. However, humans are much more than their animalistic side. They are sons and daughters of the Creator. These young teens and young adults going to World Youth Day and going on Grindr defeats the purpose for which they gathered at World Youth Day: conversion and evangelization.

In order to spread the Gospel, one must be converted. Conversion is a process that is ongoing. However, we all eventually meet a point where we are stable enough in our conversion to aptly represent the faith and evangelize. A friend of ours who took a journalistic path sent us screenshots and videos of Grindr profiles showing young men exhibiting themselves seeking sexual encounters with other men. They were not afraid to show their World Youth Day hats, camping sites, passes, or even the location of the Mass. It made me sick to my stomach reading their demands to have oral in bathrooms at World Youth Day with many posting the section "A10 etc" where they were at and using the initials "JMJ" meaning World Youth Day (WYD) in Spanish and other similar languages. They were "cruising," or courting around for a sexual encounter. One even wrote in Spanish that he wanted to experiment with oral sex without his girlfriend knowing. Another wrote in Spanish that he wanted another man to "try out his butt/anus." One even was seeking a priest to "have fun with." Others wrote that they wanted "fun" or "unrestrictive sex." It is just disgusting. One was even displaying his diocese's baseball cap!  It is like they are not self-aware. This is common when the "fornication" part of the brain takes hold. Conscience and reason are set aside and humans think via instinct. This is why humans are sometimes so sexually frustrated or "horny" that they just have casual encounters disregarding the fact that dangerous diseases are out there and spread via sexual contact.  Again, the reason and conscience parts of the brain shut down or become weaker during that moment of heat, so to speak. 

It is no surprise that homosexuality has taken hold of the Church within the hierarchy, however, we are seeing it more out in the open in public Catholic events and among the youth. This is a bad sign. We need to do better.  Perhaps phones and other devices that allow the use of social media need to be banned during World Youth Day to prevent and discourage some people from using World Youth Day as an escape where they can explore and do things behind their parent's backs. Kids will be kids. They will use events as a decoy to do something else. A religious event like World Youth Day is no different and offers no immunity from this. Parishes sponsoring youth for World Youth Day need to speak to these young people about the proper teaching of the Church regarding sexuality and chastity. The Pope's words that everyone is welcome in the Church are not helping either. Many are using his words to claim that the Church is a free-for-all. Pope Francis did expound on his world while returning to Rome stating that they are welcome but must behave within the rules of the Church.  Most likely, these words will go on deaf ears and will not be circulated by the media. 

In any event, the behavior of these young people cannot be tolerated. They are tarnishing the Catholic Faith, Our Lord and Our Lady, especially in Portugal where she appeared in 1917 as Our Lady of Fatima. They are leading with scandal and not faith. No one will want to be a Catholic with the way they are giving representation! This obstinate display of mortal sin is not what being a practicing Catholic is about. 

Parents, please check your kid's phones!  If they are going to a retreat or World Youth Day, ban these perverted meeting apps!  Pastors, ban them on the pilgrimage. Organizers of World Youth Day, ban them altogether during the week of World Youth Day or we will continue to lose the youth to sexual perversions and will bring about more scandals the Church does not need.  We Catholics all have the word "hypocrite" on our foreheads as is and do not need the words in neon shining bright! Here are some of the profiles we were shown. The eyes were blacked out to give privacy to these troubled libidinous youth.  If you know them, please give them some fraternal Christian correction. Do not shame them. We all make mistakes. Please pray for them that they will truly respond to God's grace.  Pray for those who disregard sexuality and their bodies on Grindr and other perverted apps.  As Jesus said on the Cross, "They do not know what they do.." 

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