Mark Hatcher, 61, of Whitpain Township. (Credit: Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office)
Mark Hatcher Sr., 61, remained pastor of Holy Ghost Headquarters in Philadelphia
Already categorized as a “sexually violent predator,” a pastor from Blue Bell will spend up to 12 years in prison after sentencing was handed down on Thursday in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
Mark Hatcher Sr., 61, of Whitpain, was sentenced to five years and three months to 12 years in a state correctional institution for his crimes of assaulting a boy and two girls between the ages of 6 and 15 in both Whitpain and Philadelphia between the years of 2000 and 2008, according to Carl Hessler Jr.’s article, originally published in The Pottstown Mercury.
Hatcher, who was reportedly showing “no emotion,” had been found guilty by jury following a three-day trial in February on ten charges of rape, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, and indecent assault of a child in connection to the incidents. As previously covered by WissNow in May, Hatcher was recommended by the Sex Offender Board to be classified as a “sexually violent predator.”
With an added three years of probation, Hatcher will be monitored for up to 15 total years for his crimes. Hatcher, who was pastor of Holy Ghost Headquarters, which gathers at The Met in North Philadelphia, continued to say he was innocent and asked for leniency in sentencing. He asked that God would “heal” the three children who testified against him in court Thursday, according to reports.
As first reported by North Penn Now, 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.
Efforts by WissNow 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.
