Pastor: Church Never Saw Porn

By Laura McCrystal
Concord Monitor
July 4, 2012

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/339838/pastor-church-never-saw-porn

River of Grace Church in Concord was not aware of a former member's alleged possession of child pornography before police involvement, according to the Rev. David Pinckney, the church's pastor.

Stephen Bourne, 52, of Concord is currently awaiting trial on charges that he sexually assaulted a girl under the age of 13. He faces three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and two misdemeanors of simple assault. He was also arraigned last month on eight felony counts of possessing child pornography.

Although no pornography charges were filed against Bourne until last month, the Concord police first investigated him for possessing child pornography in 2010, according to a police affidavit.

The police said his wife, Janet, found images she believed were child pornography in Bourne's home office, collected them and turned them over to her church elders at River of Grace Church. Bourne then went to a counselor, who reported to the police that Bourne admitted to looking at images of young girls. No charges were filed at the time because the images were burned before the investigation began, the police said.

But Pinckney said Janet Bourne never gave evidence to church elders or church officials, and Stephen Bourne destroyed the images by himself.

Janet Bourne asked three friends who were members of the church for help in May 2010 when she found the images, Pinckney said. None of them were church elders or officials at the time, the church said in a statement released Monday. One of the friends was a former church elder, but all three church members acted only as "friends who were contacted by a very distraught woman," Pinckney said.

"Those friends, without viewing or attempting to determine the legality of the material in Steve's possession, urged Steve to 'get rid of that trash and seek professional help,' " the church's statement said.

Pinckney said one of the three friends notified him of the situation after Bourne sought counseling. Janet Bourne did not return a message left yesterday.

Bourne told a counselor, who called the police due to mandatory reporting requirements, that he looked at images of young girls and that "he had a problem, but he did not know what to do about it," according to the police affidavit.

Bourne burned the images in his fireplace the night his friends talked to him, Pinckney said.

"In other words, I don't think they knew it was child pornography," Pinckney said. "I think they just knew it was an issue affecting their marriage and, from the Christian perspective, all pornography is evil."

Bourne told the police during their 2010 investigation that he did not have sexual contact with young girls, and through his attorney has continued to deny the sexual assault charges against him.

Once Pinckney knew about the police investigation, he said he felt an obligation to quietly inform three or four families with young daughters who were friends with Bourne through church.

"If it's going to come up in the news that a church member is being investigated for child pornography and your family happened to be close to them, you can just imagine how that would be if you saw it in the news," Pinckney said. "And that's what we were weighing . . . we feel discretely that we need to tell these families that that investigation's happening."

The Bournes were upset that Pinckney shared information about the investigation and stopped attending River of Grace Church in 2010, Pinckney said.

While they no longer attend weekly church services held at Concord High School, Pinckney said he continues to speak with both Stephen and Janet Bourne.

"It's obviously just a very sad scenario, and you want to see God's feeling of hope and grace ministered to everybody," Pinckney said.

Bourne was arrested last May on charges that he sexually assaulted a young girl. The victim, who is now 12, told her doctor last year that Bourne had touched her vaginal area under her clothing, the police said. The victim told the police Bourne assaulted her when she went to his home to watch movies. The alleged assaults began when the victim was 8 and continued until just before her 10th birthday, the police said.

The police said the victim's family and the Bournes were friends through a local church. That church is not River of Grace, according to Pinckney, who said he coincidentally knows the victim's family. He said the Bournes met the family at a church they attended prior to River of Grace.

Bourne was again arrested and arraigned June 21, after the police completed a forensic examination of his computer and found pornographic images of young girls. The police seized his computer during his arrest last year and began the forensic examination in April, according to a police affidavit.

Church members at River of Grace were shocked by the charges against Bourne because "nobody saw this coming, really," Pinckney said. Church officials "are grieved by this incident and pray for God's grace and mercy to heal all involved," according to the statement posted on the church's website.

"At the end of the day, nobody at River of Grace is hiding anything or trying to protect Steve from anything," he said.

Bourne's trial on the sexual assault charges is scheduled to begin in September at Merrimack County Superior Court. A probable cause hearing on the pornography charges will be held tomorrow at Concord's district court.

Contact: lmccrystal@cmonitor.com