Local Woman Speaks On Pastor Accused Of Sexual Abuse

Fox Philly
March 3, 2015

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/28243762/local-woman?clienttype=mobile

Offered-up to a cult leader by her own parents when she was just a child a local woman who escaped that nightmare is talking to FOX 29. The Camden County woman is also ready to talk in court against the very man who she says raped her and many others.

As FOX 29's Jeff Cole reports that self-proclaimed pastor was on the U.S. Marshals Most Wanted List and they tracked him to a beach in Brazil just days ago. Victor Barnard sits in a jail in Brazil awaiting his return to the United States. When he hits U.S. soil, he'll face dozen of counts of child molestation.

"I started to cry immediately. I felt like I was going to faint," Lindsay Tornambe said.

The news nearly floored 28-year-old Lindsay Tornambe. Living in Harleysville, Pa. as a young girl, she moved to Minnesota with her parents to become followers of Barnard's church--River Road Fellowship. She says the 53-year-old cult leader convinced her parents and others to give their first-born females to the church.

"Early Fall 2000, was when Victor first asked me about my sex life, if I ever masturbated. That was the first time he sexually abused me," Lindsay said.

The resident of Clementon, New Jersey, says the abuse started when she was just 13 and lasted until she was a woman of 22. She fled Barnard, his church and the alleged abuse one day while living with his followers in Washington State. She jumped a train back to Pennsylvania, and her family.

"I didn't realize what Victor did was rape--was a crime. He made it out to be something that was spiritually, biblical, of God--and a way for me to show God's love. It was all very confusing in my mind," Lindsay said.

The new mother of a baby girl says she'll prove her new-found strength to her alleged abuser, when she testifies against Victor Barnard in court.