By Willam Lamb
The Record
December 2, 2009
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Mahwah_assistant_pastor_charged_in_sex_assault.html
MAHWAH (NJ)--An assistant pastor at a Mahwah church has been arrested, accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl on at least three occasions about six years ago, authorities said.
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| Curtis Franklin, 44, of Mahwah was taken into custody on Tuesday, a day after the victim reported the alleged abuse to police. |
Curtis Franklin, 44, of Mahwah was taken into custody on Tuesday, a day after the victim reported the alleged abuse to police, said John L. Molinelli, the Bergen County Prosecutor. Molinelli declined to give a detailed account of the alleged abuse, saying only that it occurred at a residence in Mahwah.
Franklin is the assistant pastor at the Mahwah Full Gospel Church on Grove Street. Molinelli said Franklin met the girl about six years ago when he was a volunteer at a youth ministry sponsored by the church. The girl was under age 16 at the time, the prosecutor said.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Jack Walker, said in a brief telephone interview on Tuesday that Franklin is his son-in-law, and that he has been the assistant pastor at the church since June.
"I don't know anything else to say, and I can't comment," Walker said.
Franklin was charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child. He was being held at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack on Tuesday with bail set at $75,000. He was ordered to surrender his passport and to have no contact with the alleged victim.
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