NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A sexual assault trial is underway in Montgomery County for the longtime pastor of a Philadelphia church that holds its services at The Met.
Mark Hatcher, 60, is charged with sexually assaulting three people and raping one of them. Hatcher is pastor at Holy Ghost Headquarters, which holds Sunday services at the theatre on North Broad Street in Philadelphia’s Francisville section.
In opening statements, prosecutor Caroline Goldstein said the three accusers were kids when Hatcher had access to them. She said they trusted Hatcher as someone who was supposed to take care of them or, as she put it, at least not violate them.
The investigation started in early 2022 when a 21-year-old man told Whitpain Township Police about some inappropriate encounters he experienced while spending summers at Hatcher’s home in Blue Bell in 2007 and 2008 — when he was 6 years old. He described three such encounters, including one when Hatcher allegedly used the boy’s hand to pleasure himself and another when Hatcher allegedly kissed him and touched his buttocks under his clothes while he was playing with a Noah’s Ark toy.
The second accuser said she was staying at Hatcher’s house in 2000, when she was 15. After everyone else had left for church, she says Hatcher exposed himself then fondled her breasts from behind.
And a third accuser recalled a 2006 incident when Hatcher took her to an unoccupied home owned by his church in Brewerytown and raped her. She was 13 at the time. That was reported to police in Philadelphia, but charges were never filed.
Defense attorney Robert Gamburg says the only thing Hatcher had the misfortune of doing is trying to help people by letting kids stay at his home. He also noted that Hatcher has been with his congregation for a long time and a lot of children have gone through his church without similar accusations.