NEW JERSEY – The pastor of a Somerset County church tied himself up, wrote misspelled Muslim words on paper taped to his body, and lied about being assaulted inside his own church last week, Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano announced.

On Friday, Oct. 30 around 11:20 a.m., Somerville police responded to New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church at 147 East Main Street for a report of an alleged assault, Soriano said.

When police arrived they found a person inside the church with his hands loosely tied up with rope behind his back, legs tied, and a piece of cloth stuffed into his mouth, Soriano said. The person also had a plastic bag over his head and a piece of paper taped to his chest and back with a misspelled Islamic phrase, Soriano said.

Officers removed the bag and ropes and identified the man as Jairon Pena, 36, a pastor of the church.

Pena then told police he had been physically assaulted by two men and a woman who were masked and wearing gloves, Soriano said. Pena said around 10:30 that morning he heard a loud banging near the front door and approached it, at which time he was “accosted” by the three suspects, who then physically attacked him, removed bibles from the pews, scattered them throughout the church and stomped on theme, Soriano said.

The alleged assailants also “ridiculed” Pena’s God and proceeded to tie him up, gag him with a cloth, put a bag over his head and tape the pieces of paper to his body, Soriano said.

During the investigation detectives noticed inconsistencies with Pena’s story, Soriano said, and noted he showed no physical signs of being assaulted by anyone.

The investigation revealed Pena lied about the entire ordeal and staged the crime scene due to some “personal events in his life,” Soriano said.

Pena was charged with false public alarm, false swearing and fictitious report to law enforcement.