A Texas youth pastor who was caught allegedly sexually abusing a 6-year-old child was beaten by witnesses who say they attacked him to stop the abuse, Fox4 reports.

Dallas police arrested Willie Lee Bell Jr., 29, who was a youth pastor at First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill. Authorities say he lured the kindergartner behind an apartment, where he molested him. Bell is also implicated in a February sexual assault of two other children, Fox4 reports. All victims are aged 6 and 7.

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“It’s painful. It’s devastating. It’s a nightmare,” the mother of a 6-year-old victim told the station.

She said her child was playing outside with other kids when Bell lured him behind a building.

Fox4 reports that court records show it’s not the first time Bell has been accused of sexually abusing children — he was accused of showing pornography to a child in Tennessee.

One victim told authorities that the man abusing him was wearing “church shoes.”

The mother, who asked her identity be withheld, said she was grateful for the intervention of witnesses.

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“If it wasn’t for them, he probably would have done more to my child,” she told the station.

In a statement to Fox4, the church said it is cooperating with police.

Watch the report, from Fox4, here:

