PA Attorney General files sexual abuse charges against Beaver County man

Garret Roberts, Beaver County Times
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HARRISBURG – Charges were filed on Tuesday against a Beaver County man for sexually abusing two female relatives at a young age.

According to an investigation led by the attorney general's office, 74-year-old Raymond Shultz is being charged with sexual abuse after investigators discovered he had sexual encounters with the girls when they were between the ages of 5 and 10. At the time of the incidents, Shultz was living in Butler County.

In the criminal charges, investigators said Shultz abused the girls while their grandmother was in another room. Both victims did not report the incidents at the time, but later mentioned these incidents to therapists. When Shultz and his wife were made aware of this, both children received checks for $2,500 in the mail, which they report was the "only gifts [they] had received from them in [their] lives."

One of the victims said she remained silent because she perceived the incident was her fault based on her religious teachings as a Jehovah's Witness. According to her, informing the police of a crime that would "bring reproach to Jehovah" was actively discouraged in their teachings as a child.

Shultz faces charges of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

These charges are part of a larger investigation from Acting Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry into incidents of sexual abuse within the Jehovah's Witness congregations across the state. According to a release from her office, Shultz is one of five men charged with sexually abusing minors with whom they had close contact, in some cases members of their families.

“The details of these crimes are sad and disturbing, facts which are made even more abhorrent because the defendants used their faith communities or their own families to gain access to victims,” Henry said. “Our office will never stop working to seek justice for those who have been victimized, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who harms the most vulnerable in our society.”

Charges against these men have been filed in the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Lancaster and Butler.

Anyone with information regarding child sexual abuse should report incidents to ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313 and anyone with additional information regarding these specific cases should make a report to the Office of Attorney General’s hotline at 888-538-8541.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: PA Attorney General files sexual abuse charges against Beaver County man