Public prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Roraima have formally charged evangelical pastors Wenderson Lima de Souza, 32, and Arielly Kamila Moraes de Souza, 24, with sex crimes against at least six teenage girls in the state capital, Boa Vista. The complaint was filed on August 21 by the specialized prosecutor's office for crimes against sexual dignity and against children and adolescents, and its contents were first reported by G1 on Wednesday (26). The couple has been on the run since July, when a court ordered their pre-trial detention.

According to the complaint, the victims identified by the state's child protection police unit (DPCA) are between 12 and 17 years old. Prosecutors say the couple followed a pattern: Wenderson made a cordial, "playful" first approach, while Arielly invited the girls and offered them attention. The two then isolated the victims, distorted Bible passages to present the abuse as having a spiritual purpose and exploited the teenagers' reverence for pastoral authority. The police report also says the suspects offered money, including instant Pix transfers, and other favors in exchange for silence.

Wenderson was charged with six crimes: estupro de vulnerável (rape of a vulnerable person, a Brazilian statute that covers minors and people unable to consent), sexual harassment (importunação sexual), facilitating the sexual exploitation of a teenager or vulnerable person, unauthorized recording of sexual intimacy, procedural fraud and use of false identity information. Arielly was charged with rape of a vulnerable person, sexual harassment and procedural fraud. The prosecutor's office asked for both to be convicted and to pay moral damages to the victims: R$ 560,000 from Wenderson and R$ 195,000 from Arielly.

Timeline of the case

• August 2021: the congregation led by the couple registers its founding act; the church was formally established in 2022 in the Cinturão Verde neighborhood, in western Boa Vista, with Wenderson as president and Arielly as vice president.
• April 2026: the legal guardian of a 14-year-old girl files a police report; five more victims come forward afterward.
• April 27: according to one victim's testimony, the couple leaves Boa Vista taking money from the church's tithes and offerings.
• July 16: the Civil Police conclude the investigation and formally indict the pair, as reported by CNN Brasil.
• July: a court orders the couple's pre-trial detention.
• August 21: prosecutors file the formal charges in court.

During the investigation, police identified 11 possible victims, but five of them chose not to give statements, according to CNN Brasil. A 20-year-old woman was also indicted, suspected of destroying evidence on Wenderson's phone, on counts of procedural fraud and corruption of minors. Detective Kamilla Basto, who led the inquiry, called it a "challenging case" because of the "high degree of dissimulation by the suspects, who used precisely the victims' trust as an instrument of domination and silencing". In earlier reporting, police said the couple had fled to the neighboring state of Amazonas after the first complaints.

G1 contacted the couple's defense but had received no reply by the latest update of its story; CNN Brasil also said it was seeking their lawyers. Because the charges have not yet been reviewed by a judge, Wenderson and Arielly are formally charged but not yet defendants at trial, and remain presumed innocent under Brazilian law.

The next procedural step is the court's review of the complaint. If a judge accepts the charges, the couple will formally become defendants and criminal proceedings will begin, with hearings and the evidence-taking phase. No date has been set for that decision. The arrest warrants remain active and the two are still at large.