
Robert McKenzie, 49, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. [Image credit: Hennepin County Jail]
A Brooklyn Park pastor was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct on November 18 for repeatedly molesting a 17-year-old girl.
According to the reports, 49-year-old Robert P. McKenzie touched the teenage girl in her bathroom in May, and again in the home's kitchen on November 8.
The girl told investigators that when he touched her sexually the first time she had told him "no," and grabbed his hands in an effort to get him to stop.
McKenzie is alleged to have admitted to the girl that he had touched her inappropriately saying, "I had a perverted thought."
McKenzie has been released on $75,000 bail and is due back in court on December 16. Each charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.
Word of Faith Ministries, which McKenzie co-founded with his wife Tayonna McKenzie, boasts to be "a family" where the "the members here are faithful" according to their website. The church currently meets out of the Double Tree Hotel in Saint Louis Park.