Former CFC minister to serve less than a year in jail
Luverne Zacharias, a former teacher and youth pastor, is helped into a Steele County Sheriff’s Office vehicle to be transported to jail to begin his 364-day sentence. He was convicted of one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for assaulting a former student over a period of years. Staff photo by Kay Fate
The former youth minister and principal of a school associated with Christian Family Church in Owatonna has been sentenced a 21-month prison term, stayed for five years, and 364 days in jail.
Luverne Daniel Zacharias, 46, of Medford, was remanded to custody immediately after the sentencing Monday; he has no credit for time served.
He was charged in February with one count each of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and two counts each of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, all felonies.
Zacharias pleaded guilty July 25 to the second-degree charge, victim 13-15, position of authority; in exchange for the plea, the remaining counts were dismissed.
His victim was a former student at El Shaddai School, who reported the abuse occurred “almost daily” from 2007-2009.
Now an adult with children of her own, she gave a victim’s impact statement at Monday’s sentencing.
“In 2021, I decided enough was enough, and I wasn’t going to keep my mouth shut,” she began. “The things that had happened in school, church, youth group … it was hard for me to come forward and tell people about what happened – especially when pastors and other people kind of disregarded the things I said happened, and happened for several years.”
It was dealing with her own children that prompted her to report the abuse, she told Judge Joseph Bueltel.
“I can’t preach to them, ‘hey, if something like this happens, you need to tell me about it. It’s not your fault if something happens … but you need to be open and honest with me,’” she said. “I can’t preach to them if I’m going to keep my mouth shut about my past.”
She wanted the honesty to go both ways, because she believes abuse is happening more often.
“Because it happened in church, school, youth group, I don’t trust people – let alone churches and youth groups that cover stuff up,” the victim said.
As her children get older, “it makes me want to be there every waking moment with them, nervous and scared that something may happen to them (by) somebody who is in charge or should be looking after them,” she said.
“It messes with you mentally, and you lose a lot of trust, and question a lot of stuff when it comes to your own relationships,” she continued.
“I want to take back my voice … what was done was wrong.”
The prosecution agreed to sentence Zacharias under the 2007 guidelines; Steele County Attorney Robert Jarrett said the former minister “does acknowledge that he took advantage of the student when he was a pastor and a teacher.”
The presentence investigation, however, “doesn’t necessarily address the underlying issues of why he committed such an offense,” so sex offender treatment programming is appropriate.
Zacharias’s attorney, Max Keller, requested his client be allowed two weeks before reporting to jail, “because sex offender treatment is expensive, and life is expensive, so you need a job in order to be able to pay the bills… Mr. Zacharias has lost his job because of this offense, so he’s in the process of trying to find a new job.”
Zacharias “is very sorry for what he did; this was a long time ago and there’s no indication that he’s done anything wrong since,” Keller said, “which was … more than 10 years ago. Given that, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to allow him two weeks to report (to jail) so he can find some employment.”
Bueltel allowed Zacharias to argue what he believed a fair sentence would be; he declined.
The judge denied Keller’s request for a delay in reporting to jail, but granted work release in the future.
Zacharias, he said, “has a pretty good attitude about this, you do want to move forward – but you have some consequences as a result of your crime, and you have some therapies that you have to do.
“On the other hand, I can’t solve all your problems today from a court sentence,” Bueltel said. “You’ve got to do the hard work to make things right.”
In addition to the jail time, Zacharias must register as a predatory offender and stay away from the victim.
The judge praised the woman for her “courage to come forward with the claim, to speak how the crime has impacted you. You’ve lost trust in the church and other groups that look over our children, and you fear for your own children’s safety moving forward… You have taken back your voice.”