New Jersey pastor sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing a teenager

A New Jersey pastor has been arrested and charged with 21 counts of sexual assault against minors, Bergen County authorities said Friday.

Stephen E. Sweet, 74, is accused of multiple counts of sexual contact and sexual abuse of a child at various locations in River Edge, Paramus and Ridgewood.

The alleged abuse began when the victim was 13 and lasted five years, said Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella.

Sweet was arrested Thursday in Paramus following an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Special Victims Unit.

He has since been charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, ten counts of second-degree sexual assault, three counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, three counts of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual assault and three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual assault.

He is currently being held in the Bergen County Jail while awaiting his first court date in Hackensack.

Sweet has been pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in River Edge since 1997, according to a biography on the church’s website. He and his wife, Nancy, have two adult sons.

According to his biography, Sweet has degrees in psychology, counseling and sociology, as well as a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

Calls to Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church went unanswered Friday afternoon.

Sweet is at least the second religious leader charged this week with repeated sexual assault of a minor in the tri-state area.

On Wednesday, a 49-year-old Long Island man who served as the leader of a church in Hempstead was taken into custody by officers from the Nassau County Special Victims Squad on Long Island.

Jose Wilfredo Vazquez Cardoza is accused of sexually abusing the girl “several times” from August 2011, when the victim was 12 years old, to April 2016.