A longtime youth pastor in New Hampshire killed himself just two days after he was fired from his church over “credible allegations” he sexually assaulted children he was assigned to lead.
Jarrett Booker, 37, had served as Pastor of Worship and Youth Ministry at Nashua Baptist Church for nearly a decade when the alleged victim came forward last month.
“Unfortunately, on the evening of November 27, Jarrett Booker took his own life, refusing to face the consequences of his actions,” church elders and deacons said in a statement.
“This event has added a lot of complexity and pain to the situation.”
Officials at Nashua Baptist Church said they became aware of the criminal investigation into the alleged sexual assault just five days before Booker’s suicide.
Booker, a married father of one, works “primarily with teenagers,” according to the church’s archives website.
A swift internal investigation “revealed further evidence of wrongdoing,” the religious leadership said, slamming the accused’s actions as “inexcusable.”
The church is cooperating with the criminal investigation and “has encouraged Jarrett to do the same.”
Jarrett Booker killed himself two days after he was fired from his job as a youth pastor over “credible” allegations of child sexual abuse. Jarrett Booker (Jb) /Facebook
Details of the alleged attack and the number of victims Booker may have targeted remain unclear.
Nashua police were investigating Booker for child sex offenses at the time of his suicide.
“We learned about the alleged crime through an investigation by another police department,” a Nashua Police Department spokesperson told Patch. “The investigation is still continuing even though the suspect has died.”
The nearby Hollis Police Department is also involved in the investigation, according to church officials.
Booker served as a youth pastor at Nashua Baptist Church for nearly a decade. Jarrett Booker (Jb) /Facebook
Booker had not been charged with a crime related to the allegations at the time he killed himself, records show.
The disgraced pastor described himself as “an unfaithful and unholy sinner transformed by a faithful and Holy God,” according to his Facebook profile.
Before spending nearly a decade working with youth at Nashua Baptist, Booker worked as a youth pastor at Childrey Baptist Church in Nathalie, Virginia.
His mother, who still lives in Virginia, declined a request for comment from The Post.
Booker’s wife described the harrowing story as “an amalgamation of emotions, still swirling violently at every turn.”
“JB has his demons, I’m not going to pretend that he doesn’t. The choice causes harm. The bitter truth I learned is that there are questions for him that will never be answered in my lifetime,” he wrote on Facebook.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
