Bronx pastor who 'repeatedly raped and impregnated 12-year-old member of his flock' turns down three-year plea deal

A pastor accused of repeatedly raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl from his  flock has turned down a three-year plea deal despite DNA from the aborted foetus matching his.

Bronx minister Michael Clare, 38, allegedly raped the girl, who is now 15, repeatedly over three years until she told her parents of the abuse.

Clare, who faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty of first-degree rape, turned down the 'sweetheart' plea deal and continued to protest his innocence.

He refused the offer despite 'almost irrefutable proof' he impregnated the teenager, said Bronx Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer.

According to the New York Daily News, Clare's lawyer Paul Brenner asked the judge to consider probation instead of prison but she insisted she would 'never do that', citing the matching DNA.

Clare is the married leader of the Harvest Worship Center and principal of the associated Harvest Prep school.

 Authorities arrested him in June on second-degree rape charges but the grand jury upped the charges to first-degree rape in January.
It is feared he may have victimised other young churchgoers before he was arrested in June.

Mr Brenner said his client did not accept the plea because he is innocent.

One prosecutor said that, considering the evidence, his decision was a mistake: 'This was a sweetheart offer considering the evidence against him.

'It won't get any better from here.'

On his MySpace page Michael Clare bills himself as a 'man of great integrity' who is a 'paragon, a model of excellence and ideal example of living and preaching the Gospel of Christ'.

The site also boasts that 'Dr Clare is a devoted father and husband and has a compassion for people from all walks of life'.

He faces up to 25 years in state prison if convicted of first-degree rape and is currently free on $50,000 bond.



Deu 22:25-  But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:

Susanna 1:24-   With that Susanna cried with a loud voice: and the two elders cried out against her.

2Sa 13:12-  And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly.