Lackawanna County detectives charged a Scranton man Thursday with engaging in sexual activity with a mentally disabled woman while transporting her in a church van.
In April, the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office launched an investigation based on cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited children alleging Tara Glan had sex with a mentally disabled woman for about two years beginning when she was 16.
Glan was a van driver for the Ray of Hope Church in Taylor at the time of the alleged illegal sexual activity. He also ran church youth groups there, according to a criminal complaint.
The detectives say the woman was not capable of giving consent. The alleged abuse took place between July 2021 and July 2023, according to the criminal complaint.
Glan, 22, of 844 Madison Ave., is facing felony charges of rape of a disabled person, forcing a disabled person to perform oral sex and aggravated assault. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 21 before District Judge Paul Ware.
According to the criminal complaint:
Investigators obtained a copy of the woman’s Independent Education Program plan, also known as an “IEP,” which indicated she had an intellectual disability rendering her incapable of consenting to sexual activity.
At 19, the woman still receives daily assistance and is under the supervision of others, officers said.
When interviewed, the woman said that, when she was 16, Glan was giving her a ride home in the church van when he pulled the vehicle over and told her to get in the backseat, and she complied.
When asked if she wanted to have sex, the victim told Glan “no,” according to the complaint.
The woman said Glan forced her to have sex even after she told him to stop. She also recalled Glan forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
The woman told police Glan had also assaulted her on New Year’s Eve at church, making her pull her pants down and forcing himself on her. When the woman told Glan he was hurting her, he stopped.
She said she had been alone with Glan at that event only because he had asked for her help in cleaning up the Sunday School classroom.
The woman estimated Glan had assaulted her about eight times.
She said she had stopped wanting to go to youth group but her mother forced her to go.
She told investigators Glan would give her a ride home from church in the van, dropping off all of the other riders before her and then sexually assaulting her.
On May 8, investigators interviewed Glan at Lackawanna County Prison. He admitted to having sex with the disabled woman at the church and in the church van.
When asked why, he said, “Because that’s the only girl I ever met with that would actually do something sexually wise with me.”