Jury Finds Blue Bell Pastor Guilty of Rape, Sexual Assault of Three Children

Keith Heffintrayer | North Penn Now•

A Blue Bell man who serves as a pastor with the Philadelphia-based Holy Ghost Headquarters has been found guilty of rape and sexually assaulting three children over an eight year period, according to reporting by Carl Hessler Jr.at The Reporter.

The jury rendered their verdict on Wednesday, finding 60-year-old Mark Hatcher guilty of 10 charges including rape, indecent assault of a child, sexual assault, and related offenses. Hessler reported the jury took 2½ hours to deliberate, and Hatcher showed no emotion when the verdict was read.

"I’m really happy for the victims. After all these years, they finally got justice and I’m grateful to the jury for giving them that justice,” said Assistant District Attorney Caroline Rose Goldstein, via Hessler’s report. "These three victims were kids when this happened. They all trusted the defendant. He was a pastor. One of the victims said that she looked to him as a father figure and he preyed on that and used that against them to commit horrible crimes that shaped their lives for years later.”

Despite a motion to revoke Hatcher’s bail following the verdict, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Branca permitted Hatcher to remain free while awaiting his sentencing hearing. However, Judge Branca ordered Hatcher to surrender his passport and avoid having contact with minors as conditions of his bail, the report states.

Hessler reported that as Hatcher was leaving the courtroom, he stated the verdict was "not right.”

"It’s not fair. No truth at all was in the matter,” Hatcher said, in the report.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Watch Mark Hatcher, pastor of Philadelphia church, react to #MontcoPa jury convicting him of rape, sex assault & indecent assault of 3 minors between 2000 & 2008 at his Whitpain home & Philadelphia.
He won’t reveal if he’ll be preaching this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/5p372cyZtL
— Carl Hessler Jr. (@MontcoCourtNews) February 29, 2024

The investigation began on Jan. 3, 2022, when an unnamed male went to the Whitpain Township Police Department to report that he had been sexually assaulted multiple times at Hatcher’s Blue Bell home over a two-year period, according to charging documents. The victim told police that Hatcher allegedly sexually abused him across five separate incidents spanning the summer of 2006 through the summer of 2007.

The victim was between the ages of 6 and 7 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, police said.

That same day, a second victim — an unnamed female — told investigators that she was sexually abused by Hatcher in December 2000 when she was 15 years old. The victim stated that she was cleaning out a closet in her room when Hatcher allegedly entered the room and began a conversation. When the victim turned around, Hatcher was lying on the bed with his robe completely opened, exposing his naked body, the report states. Hatcher then kneeled behind the girl and began tickling and groping her, according to the criminal complaint.

As police continued their investigation, a third victim surfaced who previously filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Police Department’s Special Victims Unit in November 2008, stating that she had allegedly been raped by her pastor when she was 13 years old.

The third victim told police that in 2006, she had gone to dinner in New Jersey with Hatcher, and they stopped to check on a house being renovated along the 2800 block of West Oxford Street on their way home. Inside of the home, Hatcher allegedly pushed the victim onto an old mattress in an upstairs bedroom and began raping her, before stopping and saying he was "going to save [her] for her husband,” according to the complaint.

Police said the victim screamed and attempted to resist, but Hatcher placed his arms over her mouth and held the victim down.

It is unclear if charges were ever filed against Hatcher in connection with the alleged 2006 rape. Philadelphia Police did not respond to this news organization’s request for comment.

All three victims were known to Hatcher, and the alleged incidents were not random acts, investigators said.

Hatcher was arrested and arraigned on May 18, 2022, on felony counts of rape, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, unlawful restraint, sexual assault, corruption of minors, and endangering the welfare of children, along with misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, indecent exposure, indecent assault, and open lewdness. He was denied bail at his arraignment, with Magisterial District Judge Katherine McGill stating Hatcher was "a danger to the community.”

Court records show Hatcher underwent a bail review two days later, at which time bail was set at $500,000 cash and he was released from custody after posting.

Efforts to secure comment from Holy Ghost Headquarters were unsuccessful. A review of the church’s social media accounts shows Hatcher has continued his role as a pastor while on bail, however Hatcher declined to reveal if he would be preaching on Sunday, per Hessler’s report.

Defense attorney Robert Marc Gamburg said he planned to appeal the verdict.

"We’re very disappointed with the verdict,” Gamburg said, via The Reporter. "We’ll get ready for sentencing and get the appeal put together.”

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for May, at which time prosecutors said they will seek a lengthy state prison term.