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	Phila. Pastor Charged in Sex Assault, Suspended By Terri Sanginiti The News Journal March 27, 2009 http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090327/NEWS01/903270343 A Newark-area man who is charged with sexually assaulting a boy over six years has been suspended as pastor of a southwest Philadelphia church. The Rev. Harry Benson Jr., 40, who is a licensed pastor at Eastwick United Methodist Church, was charged late Tuesday with one count of first-degree rape, 12 counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of sexual solicitation of a child, according to New Castle County police. A statement released by Bishop Peggy A. Johnson of the United Methodist Church in the Philadelphia area said Benson was suspended immediately pending the outcome of the investigation. She called Benson's arrest "a painful and difficult situation for the alleged victim, the Benson family and members of the Eastwick United Methodist Church." "As a church, we take any allegations of abuse very seriously," Johnson said. "Whenever any child is harmed, we are all harmed. We especially grieve whenever a youth or child is victimized by a trusted adult." Benson lives in the first block of Hillcroft Road in the Windy Hills development, off Kirkwood Highway, with his wife and four adopted children. He was being held in Young Correctional Institution in lieu of $126,000 bail, county police Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said. An investigation began Tuesday when the victim, now 18, told a high school counselor about the abuse, police said. The counselor contacted police. Navarro said detectives learned that Benson had been abusing the teen since he was 12, in September 2001 when the victim was in sixth grade. When detectives interviewed Benson, he acknowledged that he touched the boy "at least a dozen times," according to court records. Police, however, do not believe Benson poses a threat to the larger community. Johnson said Benson had been given a background check by state police and the Pennsylvania Child Abuse Clearance, prior to his appointment in accordance with the church's Sexual Ethics Policy. Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com
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