Metro pastor arrested for molesting girl and calling her "the chosen one"
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A metro pastor was arrested this week after he allegedly convinced his congregation to move in with him, and then molested a young girl.
"I've got goosebumps on me. Like, I just can't believe this," said a neighbor who didn't want to be named but said she knew the suspect well.
Elmer Baca-Flores is the owner of a 501c3 nonprofit church labeled 'Ministerio Levantando Adoradores Para Cristo Inc.' He has been a pastor for years, but his congregation meets for services either in his home, at a park, or elsewhere.
According to court documents, in early January, the Oklahoma City Police Department received a call regarding possible human and labor trafficking. Two men told officials that their wives had been brainwashed by Flores and that he made them quit their jobs, grab their kids, and live with him.
Turns out that had happened, according to the report, members said that Elmer forced all of the families to move into his trailer near Northwest 10th Street and Meridian last year at some point.
The report stated that Elmer told them he spoke for God, and that an underage girl was the speaker for God, and she was the "chosen one." They allegedly believed him and permitted her to sleep in his bedroom.
Several of the members told police about allegations of sexual abuse by Elmer as well.
In March, the underage girl was taken to the CARES Center, and it was there that she told police he had molested her on several occasions.
She said that Flores would perform tests on members of his congregation in which he would test their loyalty to him. He also allegedly would perform tests on the young girl in which he would molest her.
Not only that, but at one point, when the congregation was at Harlow Park near NW 19th and Meridian, he sat down next to her and told her to come back to his home to have sex with him as a test to "reject the temptation of the flesh."
She told police she was uncomfortable with the conversation but that Flores assured her she wouldn't get "pregnant with him like she would with younger boys because he was working through God."
She ran off after he said that.
He also allegedly molested her in his home at one point and said that if she told anyone what had happened, her parents would be banned from his church and would "go to hell."
"That sounds like almost like a cult to me," said a neighbor. "I'm very stunned about it because it's unbelievable that he or anybody in the home could be involved in such a horrible crime. It's scary that maybe I might live in a community with something like that."
Flores was booked Thursday in the Oklahoma County Jail on a $250,000 bond. He faces two charges of lewd acts with a child under 16 and one count of indecent proposals.