FREMONT, Ohio — State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), a former pastor who quietly stepped down from the pulpit last year, was investigated by Fremont police after Oregon child welfare officials forwarded allegations that he and the father of an 18-year-old had physically and sexually abused the person when they were a child, according to police records obtained by TiffinOhio.net.

The investigation was first reported by D.J. Byrnes of The Rooster. Byrnes later confronted Click on camera about the allegations, Click’s connection to the family and what he had told police.

Click told Fremont police he did not remember the person identified as the alleged victim but acknowledged that they “might have been a member of his church.” Asked about the person’s father, Click said he did not know him “off the top of his head.”

When Byrnes later pressed Click about the family’s connection to his church, Click responded: “Attended is not a member. There’s a lot of people that come and go. I do not know them.”

Click denied the allegations and went further, telling Byrnes he had “a clean conscience” and describing himself as “ivory clean.”

Child welfare referral accused Click of abuse

The Fremont Police Department received a fax from the Oregon Department of Human Services on Sept. 29, 2025, requesting a welfare check at a local home, according to the incident report.

The report says an unknown third-party reporter alleged that an 18-year-old had been physically and sexually abused by their father and Click, identified in the report as the person’s former pastor at Fremont Baptist Temple, when the person was a juvenile.

According to the referral as summarized by Fremont police, the person allegedly said they had been “beaten and starved” by their father and Click and that the two men had perpetrated sexual abuse.

The referral also contained a separate allegation that when the person was six or seven years old, an unidentified father figure attempted to drown them in a bathtub. The police report does not identify Click as the person accused of that act.

The anonymous reporter told child welfare officials that the abuse ended after the father moved out of the home and the child stopped attending church.

Fremont Det. Sgt. Matthew Ranazzi went to the address and found the person identified in the referral.

They denied the allegations.

According to Ranazzi’s report, the person said they had never told anyone in Oregon that Click or their father abused them. They denied being beaten, starved, sexually assaulted or otherwise abused by either man.

When Ranazzi specifically asked about Click, the person identified him as their former pastor but said they did not remember Click doing anything to them.

TiffinOhio.net is not identifying the person because the police report identifies them as the alleged victim of sexual abuse as a child.

Police went to Click’s home

On Oct. 1, Fremont detectives went to Click’s residence to question him.

Click was in Columbus, according to the police report. Detectives spoke with his wife, who said she would contact him, and Click called Ranazzi a short time later.

Ranazzi told Click about the report from Oregon and asked whether he knew the person identified as the alleged victim.

Click said he did not remember them but said they “might have been a member of his church.”

Asked whether he knew the person’s father, Click said he did not know him “off the top of his head.”

Ranazzi then explained the abuse allegations to Click.

Click denied them and told police he had never sexually or physically abused anyone.

The investigation was closed after the person identified as the alleged victim denied being abused. Because Click was a sitting state representative, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was also asked to review the report. BCI informed Fremont police on Oct. 8 that it would not investigate the matter further.

Byrnes pressed Click on whether he knew the family

Click later faced Byrnes’ questions about the investigation and his relationship to the family.

The police report already documented Click acknowledging that the person “might have been a member of his church.”

When Byrnes raised the family’s church connection, Click pushed back on the description.

“Attended is not a member,” Click said. “I won’t say they never showed up.”

That exchange put Click’s public answer alongside what he had told police: that he did not remember the person but acknowledged a possible connection through his church, and that he did not know the father “off the top of his head.”

Click called himself ‘ivory clean’

Click repeatedly denied the allegations while Byrnes questioned him and made sweeping declarations about his own innocence.

“Having a clean conscience is a wonderful thing,” Click said.

He later described himself as “squeaky clean” and “ivory clean.”

Click repeatedly invoked the phrase “no there there” while arguing that the allegations had been discredited by the alleged victim’s denial and the decisions by Fremont police and BCI not to continue the case.

“This anonymous report out of Colorado [sic] with no credibility, the alleged victim says there’s no there there, Fremont police says there’s no there there, BCI says there’s no there there, and you said there’s no there there,” Click told Byrnes. “So there’s no there there.”

But the report did not come from Colorado.

Fremont police records identify the complainant as the Oregon Department of Human Services, headquartered in Salem, Oregon.

Byrnes also pressed Click about his proximity to children, referencing a daycare operated by Click’s wife.

“You’re a sick puppy,” Click responded.