Yakima County prosecutors have charged a preacher from Sunnyside with raping a woman he knows.
One count of third-degree assault and two counts of taking indecent liberties are brought against 54-year-old Abner Vazquez. These are all felonies.
Vazquez is the leader of El Gran Rey Jesus church. He is free on $10,000 bail and is still preaching.
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When called Tuesday about the charges and his decision to stay in the pulpit, Vazquez said, “I’m not guilty.” He refused to say anything else and said that any more questions should be directed to his lawyer, Ulvar Klein, who is named in court papers.
That day, April 9, the woman told Sunnyside officers that Vazquez had sexually assaulted her. She also said that this was not the first time Vazquez had made sexual advances toward her.
In an affidavit made by police, she said that Vazquez grabbed her wrists, pushed her onto a bed, and touched her thigh for the first time on April 4. She thinks Vazquez would have raped her if his wife hadn’t told him to leave while she was in the room.
A police report said that on April 8, she was at Vazquez’s house when he came up and pushed his groin against her bottom. She pushed him away and told him to stop, the report said. Vazquez laughed at her and told her she was mean, she said.
On April 9, she was at Vazquez’s house when he grabbed her by the wrists and kissed her hard on the face and neck. When she tried to pull away, he grabbed her breast. A police report from Sunnyside said that she told them that she saw Vazquez grab and try to kiss two other women.
Vazquez was arrested on April 10 and went free on bail two days later. Judge Sonia Rodriguez True of Yakima County Superior Court set the $10,000 bail and told Vazquez not to get within 1,000 feet of the lady.
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