2 Phoenix pastors indicted for failing to report accusations of sexual abuse to authorities

Ariz. pastors indicted for not reporting sex abuse

PHOENIX — Two Phoenix pastors have been indicted for not reporting that a girl told them her father was sexually abusing her and her sister.

Maricopa County prosecutors brought the charges Thursday after the man was arrested last month and accused of molesting his two teenage daughters for several years. The father’s name was not released to protect the girls’ identities.

Authorities say 51-year-old Daniel McCluskey and 38-year-old Laura McCluskey are two of the family’s pastors. Investigators say one of the girls told the McCluskeys about the alleged abuse in 2008, but the Church on the Word pastors told her to make amends with her father.

Prosecutors say the pastors had a duty to report the suspected abuse to state Child Protective Services or law enforcement.