The pastor of a small south Sacramento, California church has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy inside the restroom of a Meadowview library, Sacramento police said Saturday.

Frederick Dew, the 34-year-old pastor of the Praise Tabernacle church on 44th Street, was taken into custody Friday evening, according to Sacramento police Sgt. Matthew Young.

According to police, the boy was assaulted inside the rest- room of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library on 24th Street at 4:38 p.m. Thursday.

The victim escaped and immediately reported the alleged attack to library officials, police said.

Investigators do not believe the boy knew his alleged attacker, Young said.

Library security personnel were able to provide police with a detailed description of the suspect after he left the building, according to police.

Dew was arrested about 6 p.m. Friday, Young said. He was booked into the Sacramento County jail on suspicion of a lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 by force, oral copulation with a person under 16 and false imprisonment, according to jail records.

But parishioners believe charges against Dew will be dropped.

"He's a man of God. The devil has tricks. We believe God's report, not that of the news media," said one church member, who did not want to be identified.

Dew remains behind bars on $500,000 bond.

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