Ex-church Leader Gets 7 Years for Sex Abuse of Girl, 15, in Long Valley

By Peggy Wright
Daily Record
May 6, 2017

http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2017/05/05/ex-church-leader-gets-7-years-sex-abuse-girl-15-long-valley/311451001/

Called "a beast" by his victim, a Long Valley resident who is a former youth group leader for a church in Pennsylvania was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for seducing a 15-year-old girl he had groomed to regard him as a father figure.

On left, defendant Christopher Remaly with defense lawyer Nelson Gonzalez in Superior Court, Morristown, on May 5, 2017.

Christopher Remaly, a service manager in the automotive industry, was 27 when he sexually assaulted the girl at his home in the Long Valley section of Washington Township in 2014. The victim was from a single-parent family when she met Remaly through the Pennsylvania church, and she told Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. on Friday that Remaly told her he loved her and took her virginity.

"He called me his daughter," the victim said of Remaly, who is married and has two small daughters of his own. She vowed not to let the entanglement with Remaly define her but she said she went through a period of despair and feelings of worthlessness.

"He broke me, he manipulated me, and stole things from me that I will never get back," the victim said. "You can't allow this animal to hurt someone else."

Remaly pleaded guilty in November to one count of sexual assault, with Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez recommending that he be sentenced to seven years in prison, with no minimum period of parole ineligibility. Upon release, he will be supervised on parole for at least 15 years and must register with police in his hometown as a convicted sex offender under Megan's Law.

"Christopher Remaly was anything but a godly mentor," the victim's mother told the judge. She said that Remaly "used the power of religion" to get to know her family.

"He was the first person to introduce evil to my daughter," the mother said.

Defense lawyer Nelson Gonzalez called at least five people - many of whom Remaly knows through his involvement in a new church in Port Murray - to attest to how he has repented and is a changed person. Remaly's wife, Holly Remaly, told the judge that her husband was "in a very dark place" when he assaulted the teenager. She said he was abusing drugs and alcohol, struggling financially and was dealing with the stresses of having a second child.

Holly Remaly and Nelson both unsuccessfully asked the judge not to impose a prison sentence or to suspend the prison sentence but the judge refused. Holly Remaly and friends Christopher Remaly met through church all noted how he has changed and taken responsibility for his actions.

"My sense here is there has been an improvement, a change in attitude and character. But at the same time I could not guarantee there's no risk of re-offense. I think back to that this offense was carried out under the cover of religious motivations and actions," Critchley said.

Remaly himself gave a quiet statement to the judge, asking for leniency and saying he wanted to be present at home to raise his two daughters.

"I am not the person I was three years ago," Remaly told the judge. "I've grown exponentially in the past three years." He said he leans on God to handle stress while in the past he turned more often to alcohol and drugs at rough times.

Rodriguez, the assistant prosecutor, said she believed Remaly was not taking full responsibility, calling his actions "mistakes" or bad judgments.

"He wasn't blinded by addiction or so stressed he couldn't function. He made choices," Rodriguez said. "It wasn't a one-time mistake. He used the power of religion to seduce this child. In a kitchen, in a shed, in a barn - he took her virginity and he knew that. He made choices, not mistakes."