Baker County: Pastor arrested for allegedly groping 16-year-old, police say

BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — A pastor at a Baker County church was arrested and booked into the Baker County Detention Center on March 26 after an investigation revealed that he groped a 16-year-old girl in his home, according to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives began their investigation in early March after a complaint was made to police by the teenage victim and her family who alleged that the inappropriate touching occurred in January in the suspect’s Glen St. Mary home, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The victim was a family friend of the suspect, and she explained to detectives that she was asleep on the couch inside his residence when she awoke to him laying beside her and rubbing the inside of her upper thighs, police say. According to the victim, the fondling continued until she got off of the couch and left the room.

Several phone calls between the suspect and the victim were monitored by detectives in which the suspect never denied the allegations, but instead blamed his behavior on a medication that he took that night. At the conclusion of their investigation, BCSO detectives charged John Orberg II with child abuse.

Since his arrest, Orberg has been released from BCDC on a $25,000 bond, police say.

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