Woodstock church youth leader accused of grooming, sexually abusing teen

A former volunteer youth leader at a Woodstock church has been accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl whom prosecutors said he touched and kissed while driving in his vehicle and at his home where she sometimes slept.

Patrick O’Farrell, 57, of Woodstock, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim 13 to 16 years old, a Class 1 felony, along with grooming/luring and aggravated criminal sexual abuse when an offender is in a position of authority or trust, according to jail records and Judge Carl Metz, who ruled over O’Farrell’s detention hearing Tuesday.

The alleged abuse occurred between June and November 2022; the girl, described by Assistant State’s Attorney Anthony Marin as “troubled,” looked to O’Farrell and his wife for support and saw O’Farrell as a father figure, Marin said. At the time, O’Farrell was a volunteer youth leader at Grace Fellowship Church in Woodstock, and he met the girl through the church.

Marin described allegations that O’Farrell grabbed the girl’s hand, kissed her, touched her leg, made sexual statements to her and commented about her body. Marin said O’Farrell asked his wife if the girl could live with them.

During the last alleged incident, the prosecutor said, the girl was sleeping at O’Farrell’s house, and she woke up to him touching her in her bed. When she questioned what he was doing, O’Farrell laughed at first and left but returned crying and asking for her forgiveness, Marin told the court.

This incident prompted the girl to report the alleged abuse, Marin said. And although she’d hoped to leave the situation behind, she felt the church was not handling the situation, so she again reported the alleged abuse, leading to the criminal charges and arrest warrant issued Monday, Marin said.

“He was a youth leader at church,” Marin said. “He knew he was not supposed to be alone with kids.”

The prosecutor said O’Farrell has confessed to some of the alleged incidents to some church leaders and made “incriminating statements” to police. Between July and November 2022, cellphone records showed there were more than 380 phone calls between O’Farrell and the girl equaling 247 hours of conversation, Marin said.

“She had a bad home life, and he was masquerading as a man of God,” Marin said. “She looked up to him as a father figure, and he betrayed her. ... He has a dangerous mind.”

Assistant Public Defender Gene Wilson, appointed to represent O’Farrell during the pretrial hearing, said O’Farrell should be released with conditions. He has no criminal history since 2022 and no longer is working with any youth at the church, Wilson said. O’Farrell also is unemployed since being let go from his previous job.

Marin argued that O’Farrell be detained in the county jail pretrial because he is a danger to the community and he could “switch targets.” But Metz allowed the defendant’s pretrial release because the state could not show proof that O’Farrell is a “present threat,” which is required under the SAFE-T Act to detain a defendant.

The judge said the state proved “the proof is evident and the preponderance is great” that O’Farrell committed these offenses. However, the judge said he could not detain O’Farrell under the provisions of the SAFE-T Act.

Metz released O’Farrell with conditions including that he have no contact with the alleged victim, her address, Grace Fellowship Church or any church. He also must not have any contact with people younger than 18 and cannot go anywhere that minors would be. He is required to wear a GPS and stay at least 2 miles away from the alleged victim’s address and the church. He also is required to undergo a sex offender evaluation within 21 days and surrender his passport.

When reached by phone at the church Wednesday, the Rev. Robbie Davis confirmed that O’Farrell was a volunteer youth leader at the church and that he no longer is part of the church. Davis declined to comment further but said the church takes “child safety very seriously, and we do background checks on all volunteers.”

O’Farrell is due back in court Aug. 14.