Priest Arrested in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Suspicion of Sexually Harassing 9-Year-Old Boy

Michael Coghill, a 33-year-old cleric from Oklahoma, was arrested by police on September 20 on suspicion of sexually harassing a 9-year-old boy at a bus stop. The arrest followed a report from the boy’s father, who said his son had told him that Coghill had touched him from behind and that he did not like how it made him feel. Coghill has not been convicted of any offense, and the allegations against him have not been tested in court.

According to the father’s account, he waited near the bus stop on the day of the arrest to see whether Coghill would repeat the conduct. He said he saw a man he identified as a priest run past the bus stop, stop, return, and touch the minor inappropriately.

The father then pursued Coghill and beat him, and an arrest photograph of Coghill was published with the report. Neighborhood residents who saw the chase alerted police. Officers who arrived at the scene took Coghill for medical treatment, where he was diagnosed with a skull fracture and a broken nose. He was then arrested for questioning. Coghill is reported to face a charge of indecent acts against a minor, though the source does not provide further details of the formal charging process.

Police asked anyone who may have been another victim of Coghill to report to the department as soon as possible. Protecting the vulnerable means that concerns like these should reach investigators quickly (Proverbs 31:8-9).

After his arrest, Coghill was dismissed from his position at a church identified in the source as the Church of Laikawoma. The source reports that before joining that church, he had worked as a youth pastor at another church, which it describes as anti-fervent and racist and which it says was led by a man who published a book on sexual conduct. The source’s characterization of these churches and their leaders is not independently verified in this report.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Hebrew)