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Teen Testifies about Spankings by Pastor By Sarah Sutschek Northwest Herald March 17, 2009 http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/03/17/72797871/index.xml ST. CHARLES – A Richmond teen testified today that her pastor beat her for accusing her stepfather of sexual abuse and then he told her not to tell police about being spanked. On a good week, she said, she was hit by Daryl P. Bujak on her buttocks and lower back only 15 times with a piece of molding. On a bad week, she said, she counted 25 times. The trial for Bujak, who was a pastor at First Missionary Church in Elgin, began today. He is charged with two counts of battery and one count of failure to report. Prosecutors alleged that Bujak would beat the now-16-year-old teen every Wednesday before church services for two months in April 2005, giving her raised red marks and bruises. But Bujak's attorney, Ross Bartolotta, said it was corporal punishment agreed on by her mother and stepfather. The girl's mother, Brenda Resh, and her stepfather, Matthew Resh, had brought her to Bujak because they thought she was lying about the sexual assault allegations. "She made some vague allegations that were not believed even by her mother," Bartolotta said. "Vague allegations that over time turned into something a lot bigger." Bartolotta questioned the timeline of when the spanking was reported to police – several months after they occurred and after the girl's mother and stepfather had separated. He also said that the girl was admittedly rebellious and had butted heads with her parents over things such as chores. The alleged victim said she once admitted to Bujak that the allegations were lies, but that she only said it because she had wanted to leave after about an hourlong meeting with Bujak. The girl said that Bujak told her that he was a former police officer who had dealt with sexual abuse cases before and that he did not have to report her allegations because "nothing had really gone on." "I felt angry, and I was kind of anxious to get out of there," she said. "I was also kind of scared because I didn't know what was going to happen." Resh has been charged with sexual assault and was due in court today. |
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