Prominent UCC pastor resigns after sexual assault charges filed
Monday, March 26, 2007
From the Tampa Tribune:
SEMINOLE - The pastor of a United Church of Christ congregation has resigned, within a week before he was charged in Wisconsin with sodomizing a teenage boy while a pastor there in the late 1980s.Toro was Chairperson of the UCC Local Church Ministries’ Board of Directors and a member of the Stillspeaking Task Group. He has also been widely credited for reviving Chapel of the Hill UCC in Seminole, Florida, by increasing membership from 30 to 500 members in six years.
Angel R. Toro, 56, was in charge of the Chapel on the Hill at 12601 Park Blvd. His attorney, Bruce Denson, said there was some turmoil in the congregation because of the allegations, so Toro decided to step down. He did not believe charges would be filed, Denson said.
On Monday, however, a detective with the Rice Lake Police Department in Wisconsin filed six counts against Toro. Toro is accused of befriending, sexually assaulting and sodomizing a 17-year-old boy while pastor of a church in Rice Lake in 1987, according to a copy of the criminal complaint.
Toro has not been arrested. Rather, he is required to show up in court in Wisconsin sometime in mid-April to answer to the charges, said Chris Fitzgerald, the detective in the case. The Pinellas Sheriff’s Office said there are no pending local charges.
