praying hands
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An Iowa pastor has been arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist after several of his alleged victims came forward and revealed that he had sex with them when they were teenagers.

Brent Girouex claimed he had sex with the teenage boys because he was trying to help them gain "sexual purity" in the eyes of God, and that it was his duty "to help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them]."

Girouex, 31, confessed to detectives that he had sexual relations with four young men starting in 2007. At least eight men have come forward with allegations that the pastor molested them. Girouex told investigators that he started a relationship with one boy when he was 14 years old and they had "mutual" contact 25 to 50 times. The victim, who is now an adult, claimed the real number of times was between 50 and 100, UPI reported.

"When they would ejaculate, they would be getting rid of the evil thoughts in their mind," Girouex allegedly told detectives.

Authorities are still looking into the case.

"In my line of work, I get to see the worst of the worst, and this is pretty bad," said Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber.

"The only way that I can truly say this won't happen to somebody else is for us to get a full picture of what we've got, and then we can present that full picture to the court," Wilber said.

Girouex is currently free on a $30,000 bond.

Sources: UPI, KETV