Whitpain Pastor Should Be Considered a Sexually Violent Predator: Board

The man convicted of sexually assaulting three children will face a judge to decide his classification.

May 22, 2024, 10:32 a.m. EDT

WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. – A former Whitpain Township priest convicted of sexually abusing three children should be classified as a sexually violent offender, an agency said ahead of his upcoming hearing.

Mark Hatcher, 61, of Blue Bell, faces a Montgomery County judge this week who will decide how the state classifies him as a sex offender. This classification will have a significant impact on his possible prison sentence and probation.

The previous recommendation from the Pennsylvania State Sexual Offenders Assessment Board came after his conviction of more than a dozen crimes, including rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

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The incidents occurred between 2000 and 2008 at his home in Blue Bell and on a church property in Philadelphia’s Brewerytown neighborhood, police said.

Court records show that after Hatcher was arrested by Whitpain Township police in 2022, he was denied bail following his arraignment because the judge deemed him a “danger to the community.”

Hatcher had previously worked at the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center, also in Philadelphia.