A Southern California megachurch youth pastor who is awaiting a retrial in connection with the molestation of twin brothers is facing additional charges after two more teen boys have come forward to police, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Feb. 21.
Ruven Meulenberg, 39, of Lake Forest was arrested in 2017 in connection with the molestation of twin boys while they attended his youth ministry at Saddleback Church—a popular evangelical Baptist megachurch—in Lake Forest.
Mr. Meulenberg is accused of lewd acts and sexual molestation of the boys on and off church property between May 2016 and May 2017, when the boys were ages 13 and 14. He was a volunteer youth mentor at the church when the crimes were committed.
At the first trial in 2018, a deputy district attorney told jurors the defendant encouraged one of the twins to sit on his lap when they went to see a movie with Mr. Meulenberg and his brother, according to news reports.
Mr. Meulenberg kissed the 14-year-old boy on the head and cheek before kissing him on the mouth, according to the prosecutor. He also had the boy sit between his legs in the backseat of the car after the movie, according to reports.
The boy apparently told his mother what happened and the mother contacted a church official, who called the sheriff’s office, according to the district attorney’s office.
Mr. Meulenberg was convicted on the charges—one felony count of a lewd act on a child under 14 and two felony counts of lewd acts on a child 14-15 years old—in August 2018, but the conviction was overturned after an appellate court ruled one of the jurors had engaged in criminal misconduct by sharing information about psychiatric testing of subjects in criminal trials.
Meanwhile, two more boys have come forward to report similar crimes.
The third alleged victim told law enforcement he also met the youth pastor through the church and was invited to the movies and dinner with him between August 2016 and September 2017, when the boy was 13.
The district attorney’s office claims Mr. Meulenberg molested the third victim while hanging out with him privately.
After charges were filed in the third case, a fourth victim, who was 14 at the time of the alleged contact, reported that he also had been touched inappropriately by the youth pastor between June 2017 and June 2018.
A new case regarding the two additional victims was filed in Orange County Superior Court. Mr. Meulenberg has been charged with an additional four felony counts of a lewd act on a child under 14, and one felony count of a lewd act on a child 14 or 15 years old who is at least 10 years younger than the defendant.
Mr. Meulenberg remains released from detention and monitored by a GPS tracking device.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said the youth pastor took advantage of the vulnerable boys.
“Instead of providing the spiritual guidance he pretended to provide, this youth pastor seized on the vulnerabilities of these children for his own sick sexual gratification,” Mr. Spitzer said in a press release Feb. 21.
“He has not only forever shaken their belief in anyone in a position of trust and authority; he has irreparably damaged their faith and the faith of countless other parishioners who believed their children were safe with him and youth pastors everywhere.”
Prosecutors allege in the court filing that Mr. Meulenberg molested multiple victims, which makes him eligible for a life sentence if convicted on all charges in both cases. He faces a maximum sentence of 100 years to life, plus 10 years and eight months additional prison time.
Mr. Meulenberg’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.
