The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) and the Garden Grove Police Department are seeking the public's help in finding other possible victims of a volunteer Calvary Church leader who allegedly had unlawful sex with and committed lewd acts upon a 14-year-old girl. Vincent Daniel Lavello, 50, of Garden Grove, was turned in by his wife, according to the agencies, which gives new meaning to the truth will set you free.
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Lavello was a volunteer church leader at Calvary Chapel West Grove in Garden Grove when, between around June through this month, he engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse with and committed lewd acts upon the 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions, according to the OCDA.
The church leader also sent the girl inappropriate text messages that his wife discovered and reported to Calvary Chapel West Grove's pastor, who in turn contacted Garden Grove cops. The investigation determined that Lavello groomed the teen by providing financial assistance to her family, helping them get an apartment and buying her gifts, the OCDA alleges.
He is charged with one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child at least 10 years younger than the defendant and six felony counts of lewd acts upon a child. A conviction could send him to jail for up to five years. But those counts and potential jail time could increase if there are other victims out there. If that is you or someone you know, you are asked to contact Garden Grove Police Detective Dave Young at 714.741.5836 or Supervising District Attorney Investigator Kelly Core at 714.347.8794.
For reasons stated at the end of today's post on the sex assault case against porn producer Blaise Christie, we are also not including a photo of Lavello, who was being held on $50,000 bail pending his Dec. 5 arraignment in Westminster.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.