Dad Says Daughter Is Haunted by the Pastor-Professor Who Molested Her
By Bill Bird
A onetime minister and community college professor convicted of sexually molesting a girl from Naperville could be sentenced Friday to as much as seven years in prison for his crimes. DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Guerin will decide the fate of James W. French, 64, the founding pastor of an upstate church and an adjunct professor of U.S. history and Western and Eastern civilization at Rock Valley College in Rockford. The victim's father on Wednesday told Guerin how French sexually abused his daughter "for about a year, in multiple counties and states." The girl "eventually came to believe that if she did not say something, at some point what happened to her would most likely happen" to her siblings, the father said in a written, victim impact statement. The breaking point came one evening in November 2010, when the girl barricaded herself inside a bathroom and called her parents after being molested again by French, the father said. "She was stunned, confused and horrified." "We could not begin to fathom what we had just heard. That severe, punched-in-the-gut feeling is something we hope no parent ever has to endure." His daughter "literally is terrified of the defendant," the father said. "She genuinely fears he will remove his (court-ordered) GPS ankle bracelet, fly to our house in a helicopter, land on our front lawn, climb into her bedroom, and attack her." "What we have learned in the aftermath (has changed us) forever, all because of the selfish choices made by one individual whom we thought we could trust," the father said of French. He and his family had faith in and "deeply respected" French, who was "also a respected member of the community." "Having been a pastor and a professor, we assumed that he would protect our innocent child from harm," the father wrote. "Instead, our daughter deals with nightmares ... and has difficulties in her personal relationships. She is learning how to cope and grow, but it continues to be a daily fight." French, of Dakota, pleaded guilty Oct. 17 to a Class 2 felony charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 18. Three other, similar charges were dismissed in exchange for that plea. Naperville police and officials of the DuPage County Children's Advocacy Center investigated French, and were instrumental in his being arrested and charged in the case. An Internet autobiography of French stated he was the founding pastor of Indian Grove Country Church in Rock City, and served in that capacity from 1987 until 2008. The Rock City-Dakota area is about 100 miles from Naperville. A spokeswoman for Rock Valley College in December confirmed French's status there as an adjunct professor. She said she could not comment on whether he had been placed on leave or fired. French between 1989 and 1992 was a member of the Stephenson County Board, according to the autobiography. It stated he earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; a master's degree from California State University at Fullerton; and a master of divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield. French remains free on bond and is under home monitoring. Contact: wbird@stmedianetwork.com
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