Trial Begins for Plainfield Pastor Accused of Sexual Assault

By Julia Terruso
The Star-Ledger
May 18, 2012

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/trial_begins_for_plainfield_pa.html

George Benbow

It was a Tuesday evening nearly a decade ago, the woman said, when she was just a girl babysitting youngsters in her church’s basement. She said her pastor walked down the stairs, and then he called her over to sit on his lap.

She was 11 and new to the job, but even then, she said, she knew what followed was inappropriate.

"I felt him bouncing ... against me," said the woman, now 19 and identified only as R.L. "I told him, ‘My mom said I was too big to be sitting on anybody’s lap.’ "

R.L. spoke steadily today in Superior Court in Elizabeth as she testified about the first time her pastor allegedly sexually abused her. She said the same situation played out several times a month for three years.

Her testimony was the first in the case against former Plainfield pastor George Benbow, who is on trial on allegations he habitually assaulted R.L. and four other girls between the ages of 9 and 13 between April 2000 and July 2008. The assaults allegedly took place at the Christian Fellowship Gospel Church, which Benbow founded, and in his next-door home.

The trial began today with opening statements and continued with testimony from R.L.

Union County Assistant Prosecutor John Esmerado said Benbow, 59, preyed on girls who worked as babysitters for the church and attended Bible study meetings. In one case, he said, Benbow assaulted a girl playing in a pool at the church summer camp.

Defense attorney Steven Altman dismissed all of that in his opening statement, saying the charges were based on faulty recollections. He said the accusations were deranged and derived from one girl’s lie on July 21, 2008.

On that day, Altman said, Benbow brought groceries to the summer camp and asked two girls to help carry the bags inside. One girl, an alleged victim in the case, took a bag to an upstairs kitchen in Benbow’s house, which was used for church functions. Altman said the girl noticed some chocolates on the kitchen table and climbed onto Benbow’s lap to reach them.

"She goes downstairs with the chocolate and starts telling everyone at camp, ‘I was upstairs, I sat on his lap and it was like sitting on a rocking chair, he was humping me.’ " Altman said.

Once the counselors and campers heard the accusation, Altman said, word spread and false, copy-cat stories arose.

"Just because a child of 8 years old might say something, it’s not necessarily true," Altman told the jury. "Their perceptions of reality are not mature enough. You need to decide not what the child thought, or what the parents thought, or what the police thought. What you have to decide is what George thought. What was his purpose?"

Esmerado, the assistant prosecutor, said Benbow’s purpose was sexual gratification and he warned jurors about the graphic testimony they would hear in the case.

"Having a child sit on your lap is not a crime. What exactly happened when Mr. Benbow put five children on his lap is," Esmerado said in his opening.

Benbow has insisted he is innocent. He rejected a plea deal in January 2009 that would have resulted in a three-year prison sentence with the possibility of parole after nine months.

If convicted on all counts, Benbow could face at least 50 years in prison, 10 years for each victim, to run consecutively. The trial continues Tuesday with the rest of R.L.’s testimony.