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Church deacon charged in rape of 13-year-old girl

A church deacon has been arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in a Bensalem motel.

This post has been updated.

A church deacon has been arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in a Bensalem motel.

Humberto Cervantes, 34, of Coatesville, was a deacon at a Pentecostal church in Trenton when he befriended the girl in 2011, according to Bensalem police. They met several times in parks in Bensalem, where they "talked about church, life and family," police said. On their final meeting, the girl thought they were going to a park again, but instead, Cervantes took her to a motel and allegedly raped her, police said. She told police about the alleged incident in December.

When Bensalem and Chester County Detectives tried to arrest him at his workplace in Malvern, he fled in a car, but police tracked him down and arrested him without further incident on Wednesday, police said. Magisterial Judge Leonard Brown jailed him on $1 million bail.

Cervantes, who left the church in Trenton shortly after the alleged rape, had at one point been a deacon at Apostolic Assembly of Faith Jesus Christ, at Ontario and Front streets in North Philadelphia, police said. The church didn't immediately return a call for comment.