A Brooklyn Center pastor sexually assaulted an unconscious woman under the guise of performing a "deliverance" session to exorcise a demon from her body, a jury found Monday.
Meally Morris Freeman, 56, was convicted of two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for the private prayer session assaults, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
Freeman is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 9, when prosecutors said they will ask for a sentence just short of five years in prison.
According to charges and courtroom testimony, the 28-year-old victim told police that she had met Freeman, her pastor at Grace Mountaineer Tabernacle Church, several years earlier and considered him her "spiritual father." In September 2017, she sought spiritual guidance from him, and he told her she needed the deliverance session before Bible study to exorcise a demon from her body.
During the session, Freeman gave her small cups of oil to drink, and after they began to pray, she fell into a trance, and Freeman rubbed oil on her stomach and abdomen near her breasts.
Freeman then told her she needed a second session after Bible study, and he asked her to send her daughter home with a babysitter. After they began to pray, she again fell into a trance, and when she was fully conscious she realized she was partly unclothed and her underwear was ripped.
Freeman remains held without bail in the Hennepin County jail until sentencing.
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