Pastor Marvin Sapp leads the Sunday morning worship service of the Lighthouse Full Life Center Church. Teleka Patrick’s sister and brother knew of her plans to move to Kalamazoo to be closer to Marvin Sapp, a well-known Grand Rapids pastor and gospel singer. Sapp, who not a suspect, requested and was granted a personal-protection order against Patrick by a Kent County Circuit Court judge. (File/The Grand Rapids Press)

Grand Rapids minister and gospel singer Marvin Sapp is not a suspect in the disappearance of Dr. Teleka Patrick, Kalamazoo County investigators said Wednesday.

“He is nothing more than an innocent victim of stalking,” Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said about Sapp.

He added Sapp has “fully cooperated” with the police investigation into Patrick’s disappearance.

Patrick, 30, a first-year medical resident with the Western Michigan University School of Medicine, has not been seen since around 8 p.m. Dec. 5, when she drove out of parking lot at the Borgess Medical Center, where she worked that day.

Fuller and Detective Sgt. William Sparrow of the sheriff’s office updated reporters Wednesday about their investigation into the disappearance.

In recent weeks, media reports have focused on the discovery that Patrick had a romantic obsession with Sapp, which she detailed at length on her Twitter accounts. Sapp took out a personal protection order against Patrick on Sept. 17.

There has been widespread public speculation on blogs and among online commenters linking Sapp to Patrick’s disappearance.
“He is not a suspect,” Fuller said at the press conference.

After the press conference, Sparrow was asked if he thought Sapp was connected in any way to the disappearance.

“No,” he said.”There is nothing to indicate he had anything to do with this.”

In fact, investigators said, while people who spoke with Patrick on Dec. 5 in the hours before her disappearance noticed she was “acting strange,” she never mentioned Sapp’s name.

Sapp, 46, a widower with three teenage children, is pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids. A church official said Wednesday that Sapp had no comment about the case or the press conference.

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SOURCE: MLive.com
Julie Mack