State police: Child rapist at church told victim "God would want you to do this."
Mar. 30—HUNLOCK TWP. — Investigators say a Hunlock Twp. man affiliated with Roaring Brook Baptist Church convinced an elementary school boy to give him oral sex multiple times by telling him "God would want you to do this."
The alleged crimes occurred between 2004 and 2006 when the boy was in first or second grade, state police at Shickshinny said.
Richard Garnett, 68, of 347 Roaring Brook Drive, is charged with indecent assault of a person under age 13, statutory rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, endangering the welfare of a child and corruption of minors.
State police are asking more possible victims to come forward.
Garnett, who is awaiting a June sentencing on previous child sex charges, was arrested Tuesday morning and arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Matthew Christopher in Shickshinny. Christopher ordered Garnett jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 cash bail.
Garnett's attorney George Gossett Jr. of Philadelphia said he couldn't comment because he wasn't aware of the specifics of the allegations.
"I understand he was arrested but I don't know what's going on. I need to talk to the authorities to review the affidavit of probable cause before I make a credible statement," Gossett said.
Officials with the church did not respond to requests for comment.
State police allege Garnett sexually abused the minor child at the church during activities associated with the AWANA program, an Evangelical Christian youth program that is an acronym for a bible verse "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15. Garnett was the program's "games director," police said.
State police raided Roaring Brook Baptist Church at 322 Pritchards Road in Hunlock Twp. in December 2017 after the victim's mother found child abuse pamphlets in his college dorm room as he was dropping out of school, police said. The alleged victim confided in his mother that he was sexually abused as a young boy at the church during the AWANA night classes, police said.
The victim told police an adult man, who detectives later determined to be Garnett, would take him out of class into a furnace room and sexually assault him, police said.
"God would want you to do this," Garnett said after one encounter, according to police.
Garnett told the child "not to tell anyone what happened," police said.
Other possible victims are encouraged to call state police at Shickshinny at 570-542-4117.
Contact the writer:
570-821-2055; @cvbobkal
