By Brandon Lausch
Home News Tribune
September 17, 2008
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/NEWS/80917025
PLAINFIELD —A celebrated city pastor who founded the Christian Fellowship Gospel Church nearly 30 years ago was arrested Wednesday on sexual-assault charges after authorities accused him of molesting six girls during an eight-year span.
Bishop George C. Benbow, 56, is charged with four counts of second-degree sexual assault on a minor and two counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.
During an afternoon news conference Wednesday in Elizabeth, Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow said the victims, all girls, were either 8 or 9 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.
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| Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow discusses the charges against Pastor George C. Benbow during a news conference in Elizabeth. Photo by |
Officials said Benbow remained in custody Wednesday at the Union County Jail in Elizabeth in lieu of $150,000 bail after his arrest about 10:30 a.m. at the Johnston Avenue church. His arraignment date was not immediately set.
Prosecutors said they launched an investigation of Benbow in July after several city residents contacted police with allegations of abuse by Benbow. The probe revealed that the alleged abuse took place from 2000 to 2008 at "multiple locations on the church grounds,'' according to authorities.
Romankow said at the news conference that the abuse occurred in the church's manse, and involved "inappropriate touching'' of the clothed girls.
The prosecutor also said the continuing investigation is crossing state lines because some of the girls have moved out of New Jersey, but he declined to say how many of the girls have left the state or why they and their families moved.
Other pastors in the city painted a generally positive picture of Benbow yesterday, calling him a "man of God'' whose main objective was to serve the community.
"He's a very sincere, dedicated and committed man of faith, and I'm shocked at the charges,'' said the Rev. Gerald Lamont Thomas of Plainfield's Shiloh Baptist Church.
Calling Benbow a friend and a "quality individual,'' Thomas said he has ""great respect for him as a colleague and as a leader in our community.‚.‚.‚I'm going to stand for him, because the man is innocent until proven guilty.''
The Rev. Tracey L. Brown, founder and leader of the city's Ruth Fellowship Ministries and a former city school board member, said Benbow is president of the Concerned Urban Clergy of Plainfield and Vicinity, a coalition of congregational leaders of multiple religions throughout the Plainfield area.
"I know him to be a very competent president ... a very competent leader of urban clergy,'' Brown said, adding that she has known Benbow for 20 years. ""And I know him to be a dynamic preacher of the Gospel.''
Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Union, turned the focus from Benbow to his alleged victims when asked about the bishop.
"Any time you have these types of charges ... the first thing you think about is the children that are involved,'' Green said, calling the situation a ""tragedy'' while declining to comment on Benbow's character.
"My prayers and support go out to the families of the children that are involved,'' he said.
Carol Womack said her 11-year-old old son had attended events at Benbow's church in 2007 but said he wanted to stop going because he told his mother he was no longer comfortable at the church. Womack said she pulled her son from school yesterday to discuss the issue of inappropriate touching.
"I talked to him today, and I said I don't care if it's a family member, a friend, if someone touches you and makes you feel uncomfortable, no one has the right,'' she said.
Benbow, who founded Christian Fellowship Gospel Church in 1981, has traveled the globe to preach, teach and sing, according to his church's Web site. He recently was lauded for his leadership in a mayoral proclamation that saluted the Concerned Urban Clergy and marked the National Day of Prayer.
Attempts to reach members of the organization Wednesday were unsuccessful, as were efforts to contact Benbow's family.
Benbow married his wife, Anita, in December 1975, and the couple has two sons, according to the church's Web site, which describes one child as a member the Air Force and another as a musician at the church. The site was deactivated yesterday afternoon.
Authorities are asking anyone with additional information about the case to call Union County Prosecutor's Office detective Paul Han at 908-965-3881.
— Brandon Lausch can be reached at 908-707-3175 or blausch@mycentraljersey.com.
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