UPDATED: Former Gaithersburg Area Teacher Accused Of Molesting Boys

(Update: Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2:10 p.m.)

The man accused of molesting boys during his time was never a pastor or teacher affiliated with the Covenant Life Church, according to a statement released through the church's blog Wednesday morning. The statement says, in part:

The reports contain allegations that this abuse occurred when Mr. Morales was a teacher, erroneously implying that he was a teacher at Covenant Life School. The reports fail to state that Mr. Morales, though a church member at the time, was never a pastor in Covenant Life Church nor a teacher in Covenant Life School. Rather, Mr. Morales was a teacher employed by an independent private school in Montgomery County not affiliated with Covenant Life Church or School.

Contrary to the impression left by the news reports, Covenant Life Church had no knowledge of such abuse until many years after the abuse when an adult who had been victimized as a child came forward.

The full statement is available on the Covenant Life Church blog.

(Original Post: Tuesday, Feb. 5, 3:45 p.m.)

A former youth worker and teacher at a Gaithersburg church and now-defunct Christian school is accused of molesting boys during his employment in the 1980s and 90s, The Washington Examiner reports.

Nathaniel Morales, 55, has been indicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court on 10 counts of sexually abusing four boys under his care, according to the report. Morales works in Las Vegas as a a Pentecostal bishop and has a hearing scheduled for Friday.

Police began investigating Morales in 2009 after a man came forward to say Morales had performed sexual acts on him beginning when he was 14 years old, according to the report.

Morales was a member of Covenant Life Church, which is now located at 7501 Muncaster Mill Road, and a teacher at the victim's school, the now defunct Montgomery County Covenant Life Academy.

The church's blog features a statement signed by its pastors, which says, in part:

"We are sickened by the thought of such abuse—sexual abuse in any form is evil and unconscionable. We are grieved by these allegations. We also recognize that we don’t have all the facts. We would encourage everyone to withhold judgment until an appropriate legal process can be completed."

Read the full story on The Washington Examiner.