South Side Pastor Accused of Sexual Abuse, SNAP Applauds Victims for Speaking Out

A prominent pastor from Chicago’s south side has been accused of grooming and abusing at least three women. We applaud these brave survivors for coming forward and we hope their example inspires others who may have been hurt to come forward and make a report to police and prosecutors.

Pastor Jerry Jones, who runs the Apostolic Assembly Church of Lord Jesus Christ in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood, was still working when these allegations were made. By speaking out and detailing their abuse at Pastor Jones’ hands, we believe these women have likely prevented other children from being groomed or abused. They deserve credit for their bravery and we hope that they are receiving the help and support they need.

According to reports, when church officials were informed by a victim about Pastor Jones’ grooming, they attempted to keep the information quiet and handle the situation internally. We hope that this violation of Illinois’ child abuse reporting laws is taken seriously by Chicago police and prosecutors and that they will investigate the other pastors or church employees who had been informed about the allegations against Pastor Jones but did not inform law enforcement.

We applaud these brave women for coming forward and we hope that their bravery inspires others who may be suffering in silence. We encourage anyone who may have been hurt by Pastor Jones or any other church employee in Illinois to come forward and make a report to police immediately.

CONTACT: Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected]), Larry Antonsen, SNAP Chicago (773-255-3382, [email protected])  

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)