A well-known nonprofit director was hit with more charges alleging that he sexually abused a minor when he formerly worked as a youth pastor, following a separate case alleging sexual abuse against another minor was filed in April.
Brett Bymaster is seen in an April 2024 photo taken at the Santa Clara Hall of Justice. The former youth minister was the subject of a new set of criminal charges, filed November 19, alleging lewd and lascivious acts against children from 2013 to 2019. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Brett Bymaster, 48, the executive director of Healing Grove Health Center, was charged Nov. 19 with one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years old and one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child aged 14 or 15, according to court documents. The alleged abuse began in 2013 and continued through 2019.
He was arrested and charged in April with six counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor who was between the ages of 8 and 14 during the time of the alleged abuse — a similar range of years, from 2013 to 2019. Bymaster was released on $50,000 bail that same month pending trial.
He was placed on leave from Healing Grove Health Center following the first charges. Bymaster posted $100,000 bail on the new charges, according to the DA’s office. His arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 14.
Bymaster formerly worked as a youth pastor at The River Church in San Jose between 2014 and 2019. He resigned in 2019 due to his leadership style not aligning with the teachings of the church, according to court documents.
The new charges allege that Bymaster took advantage of a position of trust to commit the abuse and befriended the victim, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, in the pursuit of committing the sexual abuse. Documents added that the victim was “particularly vulnerable.”
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office confirmed the charges in a statement Tuesday but did not offer additional details about the case.
Bymaster’s attorneys, Renee Hessling and Dana Fite, said in a statement: “These are not new allegations; in fact, the District Attorney’s Office has known of this alleged victim since the beginning of their crusade against Mr. Bymaster. These new accusations were originally considered meritless, but in an attempt to bolster a weak case against Mr. Bymaster, (prosecutors) elected to file these additional charges which stem from an ever-evolving story.”
In response to the statement by Bymaster’s lawyers, Sean Webby, director of communications at the DA’s office, said: “We’ll try our case in court.”
Allegations against Bymaster arose in January when The River, the church where he formerly worked as a youth pastor, sent a letter to the church community detailing their independent investigation into his behavior when he worked there between 2014 and 2019. The church had first investigated Bymaster in 2021 due to complaints about his leadership and concerns about sexual misconduct, according to court documents.
The church’s investigation alleged that Bymaster was too graphic when teaching sex education classes to youth, that he showered naked with teen boys at a camp, that he made a comment about a minor girl’s chest and that, in one instance, he touched a female’s upper thigh inappropriately, according to court documents.
The church conducted its second investigation in 2023 after parents complained that the first investigation “downplayed some of the possible criminal elements” allegedly committed by Bymaster, according to court documents. Between 12 and 13 students made “complaints related to the sexual misconduct” to the church, according to court documents.
The San Jose Police Department began an investigation into the allegations in January.
A civil lawsuit was filed earlier this year against The River Church by a former church employee claiming that the church had been warned of Bymaster’s alleged actions and attempted to cover them up. The church disputed the allegations.
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Brett Bymaster’s wife, Angela Bymaster, contacted the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday and strongly defended her spouse.
“My husband is completely innocent of all of these charges,” Angela Bymaster said. “He is guilty only of preaching the gospel of Jesus and building a successful Christian clinic which serves the poor, which has somehow made us a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.”
Angela Bymaster characterized the allegations as attempts by enemies to destroy his reputation and their clinic.
“We have been turning the other cheek, trying to love and forgive them, praying for them, and trusting God that the truth will come out. These same people keep coming up with bigger and more horrifying false allegations,” Angela Bymaster added.