Courtesy of Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office
A St. Tammany Parish youth pastor was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing several children decades ago. 72-year-old David Mercer was wanted on a warrant issued out of Bossier Parish. Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Matthew Bertrand said Mercer was wanted for crimes committed between 1989 and 1995, while he had served as youth pastor at Cypress Baptist Church in Benton.
“We have four witnesses that have come forward,” Bertrand said. “He was arrested, currently for 90 counts of forcible fondling, molestation of a juvenile.”
Mercer was taken into custody Friday afternoon at a property owned by First Baptist Church of Folsom, where he was working as a youth pastor. Sergeant Bertrand said it is baffling that Mercer has continued to serve as youth pastor all this time.
“There’s, at this time, no way for us to know or to speculate what has been going on outside of this time frame, but with him maintaining this position in a church, that is a little concerning,” Bertrand said.
Bertrand said while there are four alleged victims at this time, there are likely many more, and he wants them and anyone else with any information to come forward.
“Whether they are a witness or a victim, if they have any information that they can provide that is relevant to this investigation we want to know about it,” Bertrand said.
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