Pastor Errol Wright of Community Christian Church in Tell City, Indiana, was arrested on March 13 for allegedly sexually abusing a minor he and his wife had in their care.
Lily Masterson told the authorities that Wright sexually abused her from age 15 to 18 when she was a foster child under the Wright family’s care.
According to the Tell City Police Department, Wright has been charged with four counts of a sexual misconduct with a minor (a level 4 felony), one count of child seduction (a level 5 felony), and one count of child solicitation (a level 5 felony).
“Detectives with the Tell City Police Department began an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct involving a Tell City man” last month, the department said. “During the course of the investigation, Detectives established probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant for Errol Wright of Tell City.”
Authorities report that the 48-year-old pastor was arrested without incident and placed in the Perry County Detention Center.
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Court records show that Wright posted a $48,005 bond and was released from jail on March 19. A fundraiser to help Wright with legal fees was set up by a family friend on GiveSendGo.com but has since been deleted.
“It was church, he was the one that everybody listened to,” Masterson told a local WFIE 14 News. “Everybody loved him,” so Masterson thought she’d be safe when Wright volunteered to foster her, she said.
Masterson shared that the pastor would send his wife and two biological children to the store “just to have sex with me in the same bed” he shared with is wife in.
“He was just like a monster just hiding in plain sight, and that’s the one that no one ever realizes,” Masterson added. She said that the pastor would have sex with her an average of three times a week in the home and at the church, more than 100 times in total.
She also shared that on one occasion, the pastor purchased a morning after pill for her to take and even sexually abused her on their family vacation to Jamaica.
Masterson told detectives that Wright would manipulate her by telling her that he was leaving his wife so he could be with her. She later realized he was lying and was just using her for sex.
