By Annmarie Timmins
Monitor [Concord NH]
January 13, 2007
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070113/REPOSITORY/701130312/1043/48HOURS
Peter Barton, the Concord man charged New Year's Day with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl, was a leader in the New Life Fellowship church on Dunklee Street. The arrest did not relate to Barton's church work, but the church's leaders immediately notified their nearly 85 members of the allegations.
"Our first concern was maintaining the safety of the church," said the Rev. Bob Jeffers, administrative pastor. "Everyone we talked to was very appreciative that we got to them so quickly."
The church is also ministering to Barton, who has resigned his leadership role, and his family. The alleged victim is related to Barton, and the church has ministered with that in mind.
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"We at the New Life Fellowship are deeply grieved for the immediate family," Jeffers wrote in an e-mail, explaining the church's response to the allegations. "Our fellowship is in prayer regarding these events and we know that our God will comfort, heal and restore. We understand that the authorities are involved, and our hope is for the complete reconciliation and restoration of the family."
According to a police affidavit, Barton's wife, Donna Barton, notified the Concord police after walking in on her husband and the girl on New Year's Eve.
Barton, 50, and the girl were in the bathroom at his Currier Road home with the door closed, the affidavit said. Donna Barton opened the bathroom door and saw the girl standing naked from the waist down, the affidavit said. When Donna Barton asked what was going on, the girl said, "(Barton) was rubbing his body fluid on me," according to the affidavit.
When Donna Barton confronted her husband, he said, "Forgive me," the affidavit said. She then ordered him out of the house. When the Concord police came to the house early the next morning, the girl told the officer that Barton had been abusing her for nearly a year.
According to the girl's statement, she was sitting on Barton's lap in the living room New Year's Eve while Donna Barton was sleeping on the nearby couch. Barton touched her sexually, according to the police affidavit.
Afterward, the girl went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower. Barton came in and touched her again, the affidavit said.
Barton has been charged with two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. He is being held at the Merrimack County jail on $200,000 cash bail. He could not be reached. He is due back in Concord District Court for a probable cause hearing on Tuesday.
Barton, whose work for the church included ministering abroad, gave up his church leadership after being arrested. "Understanding the high biblical standards for that leadership, he has resigned and we have accepted his resignation," Jeffers wrote in his e-mail.
Jeffers said the church did not have a detailed policy in place for handling sexual abuse allegations against a church leader. He described the church's response, instead, as a logical way to be responsible to the congregation and its ministry. The church leadership met New Year's Day, the day Barton was charged, and began calling the church's members.
"As you might expect," Jeffers wrote in his e-mail, "our folks were shocked by the news, expressing a whole range of emotions: shock, horror, expressions of grief. We have been working through all of these feelings."
Annmarie Timmins can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 323, or by e-mail at atimmins@cmonitor.com.
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