An Oklahoma pastor was arrested last week for sexually abusing his daughter since she was a child.
Bertheophilus Maurice Bailey, a pastor at St. Andrew Christian Church in Tulsa, reportedly started sexually abusing his daughter when she was in the sixth grade. KTUL reported that weeks after Bailey’s adult daughter had a baby in 2021, Bailey came to her home, pushed her on the ground, and orally penetrated her.
According to the news outlet, Bailey would go to his daughter’s home and peer through her windows after the 2021 incident. At some point, Bailey allegedly sent text messages to his wife in which he described himself as a “felon,” “child molester,” “rapist,” ”unfaithful husband,” and “uncommitted father.”
“I am a f—— a—— who should go straight to hell when I die,” Bailey wrote, according to the Roys report.
Additionally, Bailey was heard in an audio recording urging his daughter not to tell her husband because it would be “a total catastrophe to the whole kingdom of God.”
The victim, identified as Harmony Oates, spoke publicly to KJRH about the allegations against her father.
“He would pray over me at first, but he would do a lot of touching while he was praying,” she recalled, adding that it was difficult to come forward due to her pastor father’s standing in the community and his many connections.
According to KOKI, a second accuser came forward against Bailey after Oates detailed the abuse in a September 17 Facebook post. Oates and her mother reported the abuse to police earlier this month.
“It feels like I’m not in the shadows anymore,” Oates also told KJRH. “Think of a 13-year-old girl confused about who true love is because her dad is saying ‘I’m your boyfriend.'”
Bailey is charged with first-degree rape, child sexual abuse, forcible sodomy, incest, and first-degree burglary. His bond was set at $500,000.
St. Andrew Christian Church told the Roys Report that it removed Bailey from his position on September 24, the day of his arrest.
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[Feature Photo: Tulsa Police Department]
