Pastor Charged With Molestation In Pasco, Hillsborough

A Hillsborough County minister surrendered at Land O' Lakes Jail on Tuesday evening to face a charge of lewd or lascivious battery - eight months after facing similar charges in Tampa.

The Rev. Daniel A. Gomez, 38, is accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl at her Pasco County home in summer 2005, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Gomez went to the girl's home when her parents were not there and forced himself on her, kissing her and touching her in a sexual manner, a sheriff's office report states. Gomez reportedly took off his pants and removed the girl's pants, too, and attempted to have sex with her.

The girl, now a teenager, reported the abuse in November, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said. The investigation has been ongoing. The girl told authorities she didn't come forward sooner because she had not told her mother what happened, Tobin said.

Authorities would not say whether the girl was a parishioner of Gomez's church. She knew he was a minister, which is why she let him into her home, they said.

Gomez was pastor of the Center of Unction Church of the Nazarene in Brandon. He has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, said officials at the Central Florida District Churches of the Nazarene, which oversees Gomez's parish.

"We are fully cooperating with the authorities in this investigation," Larry Dennis, superintendent of the Central Florida District Church of the Nazarene, says in a written statement released Wednesday. "Any comments made before the investigation is complete would be premature. The safety of our youth in our churches is extremely important to us. Our prayers and concern go out to all those involved."

According to the report, Gomez recently told the girl's mother what happened.

Gomez, of 8239 Durham Station Drive, Tampa, is being held at Land O' Lakes Jail with bail set at $10,000.

In November, Gomez was arrested by Hillsborough deputies on three counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a person younger than 18, records show. The victim in that case is the same as in the Pasco case, said J.D. Callaway, Hillsborough sheriff's office spokesman.

There were several instances of sexual contact from April through November 2005 at Gomez's house and at another location in Hillsborough that Callaway declined to disclose.

Callaway would not say whether the girl was a member of Gomez's church.

"We're not going to describe their relationship," he said.

Callaway said the girl told her mother about the Hillsborough County incidents in November and went to authorities.

"They were just trying to work it out amongst themselves," he said. "Obviously, it was a very horrible, traumatic experience."

Hillsborough detectives are still investigating Gomez.