Pastor arrested for alleged sex assaults on minors in Menlo Park

A church pastor in Menlo Park was arrested in relation to a series of sexual assaults, police said Thursday. A church pastor in Menlo Park was arrested in relation to a series of sexual assaults, police said Thursday. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky Photo: Evan Sernoffsky Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Pastor arrested for alleged sex assaults on minors in Menlo Park 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A 47-year-old church pastor in Menlo Park was arrested on suspicion of six counts of sexual assault, including instances involving children, police said Thursday.

Victor Elizandro Tax-Gomez, who lives in East Palo Alto, was arrested Thursday after an interview at the Menlo Park Police Department, officials said.

Tax-Gomez was booked into San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of the following charges:

sexual penetration with a foreign object of a juvenile under 16

sexual penetration with a foreign object of a juvenile

sexual penetration with a foreign object of an adult

committing a lewd act with a child under 14

committing a lewd act with a child under 15

meeting with a minor with the intent to commit a lewd act

Tax-Gomez is a pastor at the El Señor Justicia Nuestra Church, which rents space for its services inside another church in the 1300 block of Chico Street in Menlo Park, police said. The church could not be reached for comment.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the alleged assault occurred or if the incidents involved parishioners at the church.

Investigators said that both adults and children were sexually assaulted by the pastor.

The abuse was discovered after several victims reported what happened to them to authorities, police said.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley