SAN JOSE — A jury is now deciding whether a former South Bay youth pastor and well-known nonprofit leader sexually abused two sisters who were under his tutelage a decade ago at The River church, capping a lengthy trial in which his attorneys argued that several influential church families fabricated the allegations to extract a multi-million legal payday.

Brett Bymaster, 49, who was executive director of the Healing Grove Health Center in San Jose when he was first arrested and charged in April 2024 , faces 10 felony charges of sexual assault involving a minor. All of the alleged crimes overlap with his tenure as a youth pastor and then youth program organizer with The River, which he left in 2019 amid a falling out with church members, reputedly over his religious philosophy.

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