Prosecutor: Pastor charged with child sex assault says girl initiated explicit messages

Paul Cain served as the pastor of New Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Kashmere Gardens for nearly two decades. Paul Cain served as the pastor of New Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Kashmere Gardens for nearly two decades. Photo: Garcia, Michela Photo: Garcia, Michela Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Prosecutor: Pastor charged with child sex assault says girl initiated explicit messages 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A Houston pastor accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old parishioner has denied sexual contact and blamed the girl for explicit messages he sent her, according to court records.

Paul Cain, 65, appeared Friday before state district Judge Randy Roll, who held the minister’s bond at $100,000 for each charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child.

It’s unknown if there are any other victims, Harris County prosecutor James Murphy said after Cain’s court appearance Friday. He urged anyone with more information to come forward.

“These are the most serious, most severe crimes that we see,” Murphy said. “Victims are always vulnerable.”

The pastor’s attorney, Ted Doebbler, was appointed to the case Friday morning and declined to comment.

Cain served as the pastor of New Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Kashmere Gardens for nearly two decades and became the subject of an investigation in June after the teen reported the abuse.

She said her pastor had been having sex with her for many months, between August and December 2018, a prosecutor said during a Thursday probable cause hearing.

Authorities recovered screenshots of sexually explicit Instagram conversations between the girl and her pastor, including nude photos from the man, prosecutors said. Cain took the 13-year-old to his home to spend the night in August, and had sex with her in the morning, according to court records.

Prosecutors say the abuse continued in October 2018, when Cain picked the girl up in a truck and allegedly had sex with her in a camper in a Kroger parking lot.

In December, when the girl was 14, Cain forced her to perform oral sex on him in the truck near Willowbrook Mall, court records show.

Cain admitted the messages were sexually explicit, and he said he and the teen had arranged plans to meet for sexual encounters, a prosecutor said during the probable cause hearing.

When asked if he felt the communication was harmless, Cain said, “Well when you’re dealing with that person, it’s harmless, man, because she initiates most of that kind of stuff.”

He repeatedly blamed her for the sexually explicit messages he sent, the prosecutor said. Cain admitted to owning the camper, taking the girl shopping at Willowbrook and spending the night together, but said there was no sexual contact between them.

Cain refused to answer authorities when they asked if the girl was his first victim, according to court documents.

New Canaan Missionary Baptist Church could not be reached by phone on Friday.