Former Las Vegas pastor accused of sex with minors arrested in Mexico

By Aida Ahmed

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 | 1:08 p.m.

A former Las Vegas pastor accused of having sex with underage girls was detained in Mexico Wednesday night, Henderson Police said.

Otis Holland, 55, fled the Henderson area in June after police issued an arrest warrant on 11 counts of sexual assault of a victim under 16, one count of child abuse and conspiracy to commit a crime, police said.

Holland was recently featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted,” and the U.S. Marshals Service received a tip from a viewer.

Marshals worked with Mexican National Police to apprehend Holland without incident at about 10 p.m. Wednesday in Tijuana, according to Assistant Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Javier Jimenez.

He was deported from Mexico and turned over to U.S. authorities. He is being held in the San Diego Central Jail, pending extradition to Henderson, police said.

Holland was initially arrested in December 2010 on three counts of sexual assault of a victim under the age of 16. In January 2011, he was arrested again on a felony count of lewdness with a minor under 14 years old, stemming from a different girl’s allegations, police said.

The current arrest warrant was issued after an investigation in which two additional girls came forward a month before Holland fled the valley, police said.

Holland was a pastor at the United Faith Church, where services were held in the lobby of a tax service business on Hacienda Avenue in Las Vegas.

The alleged incidents involving Holland are believed to have occurred in multiple Henderson and Las Vegas locations, police said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Henderson Police Department at (702) 267-4750 or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555.