Myron and Kathleen Chorbajian (Greenville County Sheriff's Office).
A South Carolina pastor and his wife are facing dozens of child abuse charges and other allegations after their adopted children accused them of forcing them to eat out of dumpsters and sleep in trash cans.
Myron Chorbajian, 73, is charged with two counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, 15 counts of unlawfully placing a child at risk or harm, and eight counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, among others, according to the Greenville County Sheriff's Office. He is the pastor at First Southern Methodist Church in Greenville.
Kathleen Chorbajian, 71, stands accused of at least 10 counts of unlawfully placing a child at risk or harm. The alleged abuse came to light in April when the couple's adopted children stepped forward with accusations dating back to the 1980s.
The Chorbajians were arrested in May while attending the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. They have since been extradited back to the Palmetto State.
Cops detailed the allegations in arrest warrants obtained by local Fox affiliate WHNS. Myron Chorbajian is accused of striking a naked child with a paddle 50 times and hitting a child with a belt until the victim lost consciousness. He also allegedly forced a child to sleep in a trash can and, on another occasion, made a kid "search dumpsters and eat rotten and discarded food."
In addition, the pastor is accused of sexually assaulting female children. The pastor also allegedly shot the family dog in the kitchen and made one of the children bury it.
All the while, his wife allegedly looked the other way and never reported the abuse.
On Friday, Kathleen Chorbajian appeared before a judge for a bond hearing. According to a courtroom report from WHNS, her attorney argued that "this case is not as the state has advertised."
He said the accusers have allowed their children to stay at the Chorbajian home overnight.
"If Kathy and Myron were as bad as they say, why would they ever let their children stay with them, unsupervised, overnight? I think that's very important," he reportedly said.
But the state argued that the pastor's wife is a danger to the community because she not only allowed the abuse to happen, she also used religion to manipulate the children.
"This case is essentially about the weaponization of Christianity to justify the abuse of children," the state's attorney reportedly said. "The time the abuse occurred, these victims were small children in foster care. They had nowhere else to go. These sadistic acts of abuse that were justified by religion against some of the most vulnerable members of our society, I don't know a situation where someone could present a more clearly present danger to the community."
The judge set Kathleen Chorbajian's bond at $120,000. She remains at the Greenville County Jail along with her husband, who has no bond.
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