Tara Glan raped children at a church in Taylor, Pennsylvania for five years. He also raped a woman with a documented intellectual disability. He was a van driver and youth group leader at Ray of Hope Church, and investigators say he used that access to reach every victim. He pleaded guilty on February 2 before Judge Michael J. Barrasse to five first-degree felonies — one per victim, five separate cases. Prosecutors dropped more than 50 additional charges to get the deal done.
DA Brian Gallagher’s office never told the public. The only outlet that covered it was WOLF-TV Fox56, and they reported Glan was “found guilty” — language that implies a jury trial. There was no trial.
How the Case Broke Open
Nobody reported Glan. A National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cyber tip brought Lackawanna County detectives to his residence in April 2025. They arrested him April 17 — not for the rapes, but for child pornography. Investigators say he filmed Amir Bomjan, then 16, raping an 8-year-old at the church and at Glan’s home (CR-1179). The five sexual assault cases came out of the investigation that followed.
On February 2, the same day Glan entered his guilty pleas, prosecutors moved to nolle pros CR-1179 — the case that broke the whole thing open. As of publication, the dismissal hasn’t been processed. Bomjan’s own case, charged separately, hasn’t been publicly resolved. The earliest offense in the docket is August 1, 2020 (CR-1193). Glan was 17. Rape of a child, nine counts of filming sex acts. He was charged as an adult in 2025. No juvenile transfer hearing appears in the docket.
Five Years, Five Victims
By July 2021 he’d moved to a new victim — a woman whose intellectual disability was documented in an Individualized Education Program, which under Pennsylvania law establishes legal incapacity to consent (CR-1194). The complaint describes approximately 18 assaults. Eight inside the church. Ten in the church van, after he’d dropped off the other passengers and she was alone with him. When detectives interviewed Glan at Lackawanna County Prison in May 2025, he didn’t deny it. He told them she was the only girl he’d ever met who would have sex with him.
He pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person with a mental disability. Prosecutors dropped two counts of rape of a mentally disabled person and both aggravated indecent assault charges. Three more child victims surface between 2022 and early 2025: CR-1192 in January 2022, CR-1195 in July 2023, and CR-1187 on February 22, 2025 — seven weeks before Glan’s first arrest. One conviction per case. Everything else dropped. CR-1187 alone had 20 charges filed and resolved on one. Each first-degree felony carries up to 20 years, and mandatory minimums apply to sexual offenses involving children.
On February 4, Judge Barrasse ordered a Sexual Offenders Assessment Board evaluation to determine whether Glan qualifies as a Sexually Violent Predator under SORNA — lifetime quarterly registration, no exceptions. Forcing a child to take a witness stand and describe being raped is something the system avoids when it can. ADA Tara Foley, who handled the prosecution throughout, had filmed abuse and a defendant who admitted what he did on record. She got convictions on all five cases.
The DA Said Nothing
The Lackawanna County DA posts press releases at lackawannada.com. A drug trafficking ring in September 2025. A murder conviction that same month. Five thousand counts of child pornography in July. A DUI reminder in November.
Glan’s plea on February 2, 2026: nothing.
Gallagher personally filed the charging information in multiple Glan cases — a step normally handled by line prosecutors. His office crafted the plea, his ADA presented it before Judge Barrasse, and afterward his office chose silence. What the public got was a WOLF-TV Fox56 report calling it a guilty finding, with no mention of the plea structure, the dropped charges, the SOAB assessment, the pending sentencing, the nolle prossed filming case, or the fact that one man assaulted five people at one church for five years. Glan has been in Lackawanna County Prison since April 17, 2025. No sentencing date has been set. The SOAB evaluation typically takes 90 days. That window closed. Nothing has appeared in the docket.
The Church’s Silence
Ray of Hope Church sits at 258 N. Main St. in Taylor. Glan ran the youth group, drove the van, and investigators say he committed eight of the documented assaults inside the building. Nobody has publicly asked the church how this went on under its roof for five years.
This report is based on Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas dockets CP-35-CR-0001179-2025, CP-35-CR-0001187-2025, CP-35-CR-0001192-2025, CP-35-CR-0001193-2025, CP-35-CR-0001194-2025, and CP-35-CR-0001195-2025, and corresponding magisterial district court dockets. The Lackawanna County District Attorney’s office was contacted for comment. This story will be updated upon response.