Church youth worker charged with sex abuse
Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram
AMHERST — Police say sexual abuse charges lodged against a 19-year-old Amherst man stem from incidents that occurred last summer between him and a 14-year-old boy during a local church event.
Albert G. Battistelli IV, 19, was to appear in Oberlin Municipal Court today for a pretrial hearing on two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Battistelli was 18 at the time of the alleged sexual encounters on Aug. 31, 2007, and was working with youth at First Baptist Church at 440 N. Lake St., according to police Sgt. Dan Jasinski.
“This occurred at the church during some kind of activity,” Jasinski said.
Battistelli turned himself in after police contacted his attorney, Jack Bradley. Battistelli was released after posting a $4,000 bond.
Bradley could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The charges are misdemeanors rather than felonies due to the age difference between the two males, Jasinski said.
“If one party is less than four years older than the other, the charges are considered misdemeanors,” he said.
Jasinski said he wanted to release details of the case in the event there might be any other victims who could come forward.
“I’m not aware if there are any others, but we just wanted to get this out there in the event there were,” he said.
A brief statement issued by the church indicated officials were first made aware of the incidents when they received “a serious accusation of sexual misconduct by a member of the church” last winter.
Church officials contacted police, who began their investigation Feb. 26. In light of the accusations, “it is the church’s policy to remove the individual from any ministry position until the issue is resolved,” the church’s statement said.
Jasinski said he did not know what kind of position Battistelli held, other than that it involved working with youth.
First Baptist Church Pastor Mike Plog was unavailable for comment Wednesday, according to a woman who answered the church phone.
“The police have asked us not to comment further than what is contained in the statement,” she said.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram July 17th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 9% |
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Comments
Comment from
justanothermom
July 17, 2008, 7:54 pm
This is so sad. I feel terrible that I question why there is a man working in my 4yo dtr’s Sunday School class but at the same time, I feel like I’d be a full not to. Nowhere is safe anymore.
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