In the interest of plain honesty, I do not vibe with any churches. It’s not that I am a faithless person. Instead, it’s that the church has a very nasty tendency to warp the believed words of a higher being to validate its own motives. Charles Grandison Finney, an influential US Presbyterian minister, educator, and a leader in the Second Great Awakening, once said, “If the presence of God is in the church, the church will draw the world in. If the presence of God is not in the church, the world will draw the church out.”
According to the news cycle in the last few years, many of us are in the latter camp. It is especially true when you hear horror stories like that of Myron Chorbajian, a South Carolina pastor who was arrested in May 2025 for charges dating back to the ’80s, along with his wife, Kathleen.
Myron Chorbajian, a former pastor at 1st Southern Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, is accused of several counts of horrific child abuse against his own children, according to People. Allegedly, he sexually abused them, forced them to eat dirt and trash, killed a dog, and more.
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into the couple in April 2025 after a victim came forward and reported ‘extensive abuse’ in the 1980s.
Image via GoFundMe
Fox Carolina originally reported that the pair, who adopted several children, were officially arrested in May 2025. The details in the arrest warrants are nothing short of gruesome. The outlet stated that the warrants alleged Myron Chorbajian paddled a naked victim 50 times. He also reportedly beat a child with a belt until they lost consciousness and he forced a victim to eat dirt from the floor.
Myron Chorbajian was also accused of punching a child in the face then forcing a child to sleep in a trash can. He reportedly ran over one of the children’s kittens and then shot it in the head right in front of them, per the arrest warrants obtained by Fox Carolina. Another incident detailed him kicking a dog then later forcing a child to bury it. He also allegedly sexually abused his female children.
The accusations led to an official arrest on May 15, 2025.
Myron Chorbajian ended up facing a laundry list of additional charges, according to a new release posted by the sheriff’s office, including:
- eight counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor first degree
- three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor second degree
- 10 counts of incest
- two counts of assault & battery with intent to kill
- three counts of assault & battery second degree
- 15 counts unlawfully placing a child at risk or harm
Kathleen Chorbajian was not accused of any first-hand abuse but was charged with an additional “10 counts Unlawfully Placing a Child at Risk or Harm” for knowing about incidents like children sleeping in trash cans and failing to report them, per the release.
The two were held at the Greenville County Detention center with no bond. Fox Carolina reported in February 2026, however, that Kathleen Chorbajian was granted bond and put on house arrest with permission to leave her home for medical, legal, and religious reasons, as she was not the direct perpetrator of the alleged abuse.
The impact they had on the children they adopted was staggering.
Image via GoFundMe
In a defunct GoFundMe campaign, the daughter of one of Myron and Kathleen Chorbajian’s adopted sons, Johnathan David Vallely, described her father’s death from drug addiction as a direct result of the couple’s abuse.
“As the sad story of many who suffer at the hands of abusive and neglectful family members, John adopted maladaptive coping mechanisms that took over his life, it was a destructive love and first hit,” she wrote. Kathleen Chorbajian was noted as a donor of $400.
Fox Carolina reported that at the hearing for Kathleen Chorbajian’s bond, the defense stated that their adult children had kept in touch with them, which is evident in the photos provided in the GoFundMe campaign. They argued their grandchildren were allowed to visit for “extended periods of time and that the children trusted them enough to leave their children in their care.”
The state argued, however, that this was not just a case of physical abuse, but spiritual abuse too.
“This case is essentially about the weaponization of Christianity to justify the abuse of children,” the state’s attorney 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.”
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
