Queens pastor charged with sexually abusing 6-year-old girl

A pastor has been charged in connection to allegations he molested a 6-year-old girl that his wife was babysitting at their Queens home.

James Love, 45, has been charged with sexually abusing the 6-year-old at his Woodside apartment, the New York Post reported. Police said he assaulted the girl “on several occasions.”

The mother of the victim said that Love, a pastor at New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Bushwick, “exposed his genitals to her and placed her hand on his genitals” and “rubbed his genitals against [hers]” while they were wearing their clothes, according to allegations in a criminal complaint referenced by the New York Daily News.

The complaint also alleged that the assaults took place between March and June, the Post stated, adding that Love’s church did not return a call seeking comment.

“His name has been tarnished,” family spokesman Shaheed Muhammed told the Daily News. “He’s a very religious man. The Love family is a good family, a loving religious family.”

Love denied the allegations, which included an accusation that he repeatedly tried to put his hand under the girl’s clothes, during a phone call arranged by authorities between Love and the victim’s mother.