A Boynton Beach pastor was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday after he was accused of molesting a girl in 2007, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Dieugrand Jacques, 39, of Lake Worth, was charged with lewd or lascivious molestation. He is the pastor of the New Alliance Haitian Church in Boynton Beach.
His victim, a then 15-year-old Boynton Beach High school student, reported the incident to authorities on Aug. 21, 2008. A day prior, the victim and her boyfriend confronted Jacques, who denied the allegations.
Late Friday, Jacques was out of Palm Beach County Jail after posting $7,500 bail.
Assistant State Attorney Mary Ann Duggan had asked for $50,000, citing the seriousness of the allegation. She said Jacques had no previous arrests.
The alleged incident occurred on May 22, 2007, at the home of the pastor during a counseling session the girl sought after having problems with her boyfriend.
At the time, she had no concerns about going to his house because she assumed they would not be alone after Jacques told her he was going to pick up his wife and children. But the victim said she found herself alone with the pastor.
Jacques asked the girl about her sexual relationship with her boyfriend and asked her to sit on his lap and take off her pants.
He told her, "Don't worry. I do this to all of my girls," according to a Sheriff's Office report. The pastor then drove the girl home.
The victim told investigators that she had been trying to "deal with it and get over it and it hasn't been getting any better."
According to the report, investigators spoke to Jacques' wife, Yvrose Jacques, who said she was home when the victim visited and denied the allegations against her husband.
No deception was found in a voice stress test that Jacques took when asked about the molestation, according to the report.
Jacques, however, told investigators that he kissed the victim in front of her boyfriend to demonstrate what a "friendly kiss" was.
Another victim turned up, but the State Attorney's Office declined to prosecute lacking probable cause, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.
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