Rev. Edward-Richard Hinds, who headed Brooklyn clergy council, charged with sex abuse of teen

A politically connected Brooklyn religion leader has been indicted connected enactment maltreatment charges for an inappropriate narration with a teenager, instrumentality enforcement sources archer the Daily News.

Rev. Edward-Richard Hinds — who headed the 67th Precinct Clergy Council, known arsenic “The GodSquad” — is slated Thursday day to look successful Brooklyn Supreme Court, wherever the indictment volition beryllium disclosed, sources said. A peculiar authoritative from the Staten Island territory attorney’s bureau is handling the case, the sources said.

The charges impact incidents from 2022 with a 16-year-old boy, sources said. Their encounters were not forcible, truthful immoderate that took spot aft the teen turned 17 wouldn’t bring transgression charges, sources said.

In 1 of those incidents, connected Christmas Eve 2022, Hinds and the teen performed enactment acts connected each other, the sources said.

The charges against the cleric see third-degree rape and enactment abuse.

Hinds has been progressive with aggregate programs launched by Mayor Adams’ administration, and the GodSquad holds $10.5 cardinal successful progressive contracts with metropolis agencies, mostly with the Department of Youth and Community Development, procurement records show.

Hinds has besides been progressive successful the Citywide Clergy Collective, an anti-gun unit inaugural the politician established earlier this year.

An Adams spokesperson, however, said Hinds was removed from the corporate connected Aug. 12 aft the GodSquad archetypal alerted the mayor’s bureau astir the accusations against the reverend.

In a statement released connected X that day, the GodSquad said it had learned of “serious allegations” against Hinds. The connection didn’t elaborate connected the accusations, but it said the GodSquad had informed the Brooklyn territory attorney’s bureau of them.

The Clergy Council’s website has been scrubbed of respective references to his presumption arsenic president there. A nexus to his bio was taken down earlier this year, and his sanction was removed from the council’s “board of directors” page. Archives of some pages tin inactive beryllium recovered online.

A typical for the 67th Precinct Clergy Council did not instantly instrumentality a connection seeking comment.

In a 2022 interview with NY1, Hinds described mentoring young men arsenic being his calling, telling the station, “Mothers bash a tremendous occupation arsenic azygous parents. But determination is thing astir a father, a antheral talking to a young man, shaping them.”