Deacon Busted in Church Assault
The Trentonian
PEMBERTON TWP. A 59-year-old deacon has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a girl during a church service Sunday morning, officials said Friday. Joseph V. Pullen Jr., 59, of Pemberton Township, was charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. The assault of the juvenile occurred in another part of the Calvary Baptist Church on Scrapetown Road as the public participated in the Sunday service. Pullen, a 59-year-old deacon at the church and a retired water utility worker at Fort Dix, was alone with the girl at the time of the alleged assault. No information about the girl was released. The investigation revealed that Pullen allegedly assaulted the same girl at another location during the fall of 2011, according to a news release from Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi and Pemberton Township Police Chief David H. Jantas. Pullen was charged with aggravated sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child in that case. Pullen was taken into custody Friday at the Pemberton Township Police Department. He failed to make a straight $250,000 cash bail and was remanded to the Burlington County Jail. A call to his house in Browns Mills elicited this message: “This is Joe. Pat and I are out, enjoying time together. We should be back soon. Leave your name and number, and we will return your call. Don’t forget to pray for our troops, and may God bless America.” The pastor at Calvary Baptist, Guy Glass, said only, “We don’t have a comment,” and abruptly hung up. The investigation was conducted by detectives from the Pemberton Township Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office’s Sexual Assault/Child Abuse Unit. Anyone with information about the defendant that might be useful to law enforcement authorities is asked to call (609) 265-5879 and ask to speak to a detective.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.