Authorities arrest pastor accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter

Avo Roker, fellow pastor forced girl to steal for voodoo rituals, police say

LAUDERHILL, Fla. ā€“ A pastor accused of sexually abusing hisĀ 13-year-old stepdaughter was arrested Saturday at an airport, according to Broward County jail records.

Avo Avard Roker, 32, faces charges of sexual battery on a victim under 18 years old.Ā 

According to an arrest warrant from the LauderhillĀ Police Department, Roker, along with his friend and fellow pastor,Ā Ricardo Strachan, repeatedly sexually abused the girl for almost a year. RokerĀ threatened the girl, telling her that StrachanĀ would harm her and her mother if she didn't comply, the warrant said.

Strachan, 40, is listed as president of the Prophetic Worshippers International Church in Lauderhill. He faces a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a child between the age of 12 and 16. He was arrested Wednesday.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Strachan had sex with the teenager about 10 times in the parking lot of Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale and about 15 other times from January to December 2016.

Ricardo Strachan is president of the Prophetic Worshippers International Church in Lauderhill.

Police said the girl claimed Strachan practiced voodoo and had her steal from her family "in an effort to perform rituals."

A website from 2015 listedĀ RokerĀ asĀ theĀ senior pastor of Believer Community Church in Nassau, Bahamas. The church now appears to have new leadership.

Roker is being held without bond at the Broward County main jail in Fort Lauderdale.Ā StrachanĀ is being held on $100,000 bond at the same facility.