Damian Blake Burkhalter, youth pastor, accused of citing Bible for underage sex
Damian Blake Burkhalter is a youth director at Glen Cary Lutheran Church in Ham Lake. He's a member of the Anoka County Community Corrections Advisory Board, and he's a former sergeant with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.
Damian Blake Burkhalter: Losing his religion.
Now, the man who ought to know something about morals and the law is accused of having an ongoing sexual relationship with an underage girl -- and said the Bible made it OK.
According to the complaint, Burkhalter first hit on her during a church trip to Iowa in 2010 when she was 14 years old, and became so smitten with her that he wanted to adopt her. She became his defacto church secretary, and as he began to exert power over her, she tried to fend off his advances on moral grounds.
Burkhalter's solution was to claim the Bible justified his advances at church, both their homes, summer camp, and in a car parked outside a middle school. Groping her, "sucking on her breasts" and having sex with her was OK, he said, because Joseph was in his 40s and Mary was much younger before Jesus was born.
This manipulative perv was finally arrested after she told her story to Kandiyohi County Child Protection and police got involved. He was formally charged today with four counts of criminal sexual conduct. Bail was set at $100,000. [DOWNLOAD COMPLAINT]
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