D.A.'s Office Says Lee 'Had Sex' with 15-Year-Old
By Jim Wright
Press and Sun-Bulletin
April 20, 2006
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/NEWS01/604200351/1001
Norwich - A former pastor accused of running off with a 15-year-old girl could be served by the Chenango County District Attorney's Office with sex charges as early as today, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Dunshee, of Sherburne, said Wednesday.
Lewis J. Lee, 54, was apprehended at his Maryland job Monday night, while Elizabeth Thomsen of the Town of Columbus was with him. The Chenango County teenager left home with her family's former pastor March 18. In the past month, the two were spotted as far away as Tennessee.
Lee could face two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor, or third-degree rape, a felony, Dunshee said. Both charges will result from incidents Dunshee said occurred in the Town of Sherburne.
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| Below, Lee, center, is escorted from the Chenango County Office Building by Chenango County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Tim Urnaitis, left, and Deputy Jason Sherman. |
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| Lewis J. Lee, right, waits to be transferred to a Chenango County Sheriff's Department vehicle Wednesday after a hearing at the Chenango County Office Building in Norwich. Lee, 54, is the formerpastor at the Christian Baptist Church nearSherburne. Officials could decide as early as today to charge Lee with two counts of third-degreesexual abuse, a misdemeanor, or third-degree rape, a felony. DIOGENES AGCAOILI JR. / Press & Sun-Bulletin |
"He manipulated her and then had sex with her," Dunshee said following Lee's arraignment Wednesday in Chenango County Court on a felony charge of first-degree custodial interference. "Any sex that occurred was not consensual. She is not of the age where she can give consent. I think what happened here is despicable."
Lee was returned to Chenango County on Wednesday and is being housed in the Chenango County Correctional Facility without bail, pending a possible Town of Columbus Court appearance at 7 p.m. today. He had been in the Washington County Detention Center in Hagerstown, Md., following his apprehension at Office Essentials in Hagerstown, where he had worked as a delivery driver for the past several weeks.
Thomsen was returned to her family Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday, two dozen people gathered in Chenango County's Family Court chambers for Lee's arraignment; only two weren't members of the media. A heavily-armed sheriff's guard escorted the handcuffed ex-pastor into court.
Lee, who wore a wedding band, showed no emotion during the six-minute hearing and answered Chenango County Judge W. Howard Sullivan's few questions politely, replying with "yes, sir" and "no, sir."
Defense attorney Diane M. DiStefano, assigned for the purpose of the arraignment, waived reading of the charge. Sullivan said he was acting as a substitute for Town of Columbus Justice Ralph B. Simons; the next court appearance would be before Simons, he said.
DiStefano said she would determine whether to pursue a felony hearing after speaking with Lee either Wednesday evening or this morning. The defense has the right to waive such a hearing. The prosecution has to present enough evidence to make the presumption that a crime was committed.
Sullivan denied any issue of bail Wednesday. Dunshee had requested that Lee be sent to jail without bail, calling him a flight risk.
DiStefano asked that Lee be put in solitary confinement, but gave no reason for the request. The defendant's housing is up to the sheriff's department, Sullivan said.
Lee, former pastor of the Christian Baptist Church near Sherburne, had given the girl an engagement ring when she was just 13, Chenango County Sheriff Thomas Loughren said he learned from Thomsen's parents. Loughren said investigators hadn't had an opportunity to map the travels of Lee and Thomsen but were aware they left Tennessee and went as far west as Wyoming before returning to Maryland.
"We had looked at Tennessee for a while, but they always seemed a day or two ahead of us. When we learned the area where they had been, we did blitz a 12-county area with their pictures and that may have driven them west," Loughren said.
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