KENT, Wash. — A former priest and two women accused of having sex on a church altar have been charged with institutional vandalism.
District Attorney Warren Montgomery says 37-year-old Travis Jhon Clark, 41-year-old Mindy Lynn Dixon, of Kent, and 28-year-old Melissa Kamon Cheng, of Alpharetta, Georgia, were charged Thursday.
Court documents claim Clark was caught videotaping himself having sex with two dominatrices on the altar of Pearl River church in Louisiana.
According to the police, Clark, Cheng and Dixon were originally arrested for obscenity because their sex acts had been visible from the street.
However, prosecutors ultimately charged the trio with the lesser count of institutional vandalism.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced on Oct. 1 that Clark had been working in St. Tammany Parish and had been removed from the ministry.
“His obscene behavior was deplorable,” Aymond told 4WWL in New Orleans. “His desecration of the altar in Church was demonic. I am infuriated by his actions. When the details became clear, we had the altar removed and burned.”
“It is clear the State went out of its way to contort the facts of this case in order to fit their own narrative,” attorney Bradley S. Phillips told 4WWL. “Once again, they have overstepped their bounds at this nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to regulate the morality of private individuals. Just because you don’t like something, doesn’t make it criminal. My clients look forward to their day in court as we continue to fight this baseless allegation.”