Jared Olivetti, a Presbyterian pastor who was accused of covering up child sex abuse has been defrocked after investigation. The Indiana pastor is said to have mishandled allegations that an underage family member sexually abused several children at his congregation. He was investigated by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America.
Jared Olivetti pastored Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church of West Lafayette but resigned amid allegations of mishandling abuse in January and he had his ordination officially revoked last week. He resigned alongside three church elders and has also been removed from the “privileges of Church membership,” This will stop Olivetti from serving as an elder or participate in the sacrament communion.
The Indianapolis Star in December 2021 published a report alleging Olivetti had been protecting a teenage relative from an investigation into claims of sexually abusing up to 15 children on and off church property between 2019 and 2020.
Not less than eight victims from multiple families belonged to the congregation and they reported being touched over and under their clothes and penetration committed by the boy in the church. According to Tippecanoe County juvenile court order, the boy was found to be delinquent on multiple felony charges of child molestation.
Olivetti reportedly interfered with the church’s response to the allegations which led both the synod and regional body to investigate the claims of sexual abuse at Immanuel Church. A Synod judicial commission found the pastor guilty on charges of failing to conduct himself “in a way that was above reproach … resulting in distrust and disunity within the church,”
He was also found guilty of “threatening dishonor in the name of Jesus Christ, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church, and himself.”
Olivetti and elders Keith Magill, Ben Larson and David Carr, resigned their leadership positions at the congregation in January in response to the allegations.