wfn.org | Man arrested for child sex abuse while serving church in '70s

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

May 30, 2002   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{238}

By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist layman is in jail for allegedly molesting two boys while
serving as a probationary clergy member in Southern California during the
1970s.

Gary Allen Carsonhull, 57, faces 18 counts of lewd acts with a child,
according to the news reports. Arrested on May 21, he will be arraigned June
12 and is being held in lieu of $900,000 bail.

United Methodist officials in both California annual (regional) conferences
are cooperating with police and ministering to those who are affected by the
situation.
 
Carsonhull is a member of Los Altos United Methodist Church in the San
Francisco Bay area. Los Altos is in the denomination's California-Nevada
Annual Conference, which includes Northern California. No allegations have
come from the congregation, according to Jeneane Jones, the conference's
communications director.

The alleged abuse occurred when Carsonhull was a probationary member working
toward full clergy membership in the conference that covers Southern
California, now called the California-Pacific Annual Conference. Carsonhull
allegedly molested the boys between 1975 and 1979, according to the
Associated Press, citing a criminal complaint. The alleged acts occurred as
he participated in field trips and other activities involving the youth
group of a Long Beach church, authorities said. The Long Beach church is
also named Los Altos United Methodist Church.

Since local media carried accounts of Carsonhull's arrest, additional people
have contacted police, some of whom also alleged that youth minister also
molested them during the 1970s.
 
News accounts of the arrest said that one of the boys reported the incidents
to his parents, who asked the Long Beach church to terminate Carsonhull
rather than report the allegations to police. Reporting such cases to the
police was not mandatory at the time.

The current pastor of the Long Beach church confirmed that assertion. The
Rev. Jerry Larsen said in a telephone interview with United Methodist News
Service that he had been aware of the history but not the current charges
before Long Beach Detective Craig Newland called on the day of the arrest.

"The senior minister before me knew about it from his predecessor who was
John Zimmer," the senior minister, who was consulted by the parents in 1979
and whose action led to Carsonhull's immediate dismissal and surrender of
his ministerial credentials.

Larsen quickly attempted to inform Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, who has been out
of town. Her office was helpful; the California-Pacific Conference
chancellor gave counsel; and the conference crisis team leader has been in
consultation, Larsen said.

"When we first heard of the events, we went back to our church's sex abuse
policy," he said. "I recommend that every church adopt such a policy."  He
explained that the conference has a policy in place to prevent sex abuse in
the church, to educate members and staff about the issue and to deal with
the situation if a case is reported. The Long Beach church had adopted
essentially the same policy, and it has served as a guide.

Larsen wrote a letter which is posted on the church's web site and read it
in both church services the following Sunday. After both services that
morning, he held informal sessions to answer any question from church
members.

"I believe these things really need to be aired and the truth needs to be
spoken," Larsen stated. That honesty and healing, he indicated, is the good
that can come out of what is a very difficult situation. Saying that he
hopes it does not adversely affect the current ministry of the church,
Larsen expressed sadness about what transpired in 1979 and for those who
will now revisit painful experiences of that time.
 
Bishop Beverly Shamana, who leads the California-Nevada Conference,
addressed the situation in a May 24 letter to her clergy members. In
addition to currently being a layman in the California-Nevada Conference,
Carsonhull served as youth director for First United Methodist Church in
Walnut Creek in the early 1970s. At the time, he was a student at the
Pacific School of Religion and was employed as a part-time youth minister,
according to Jones.
 
In her letter, Shamana said that California-Nevada Conference leaders are
taking several actions in response to the case, all in line with established
church policy regarding sexual misconduct.

"We are pursuing an investigation as to Mr. Carsonhull's actions while part
of a church staff in this conference," she said. "Any evidence of child sex
abuse in this conference will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities.

"We are committed to reaching out to any who may have been hurt by abusive
behavior in this conference," she said. "In these circumstances, we are
called as the people of God to respond in care and compassion."

The California-Nevada response team is working with California-Pacific
leaders and the authorities on the case, she said.

In her letter, Shamana reminded the clergy members of the importance of
having policies that safeguard children. "Both Los Altos and Walnut Creek
churches have strong policies in place to protect children from abuse," she
said.

Carsonhull joined the Los Altos Church in Northern California in 1983. "He
is a member of the church, and he attends occasionally," said the Rev.
Kristie Olah, minister of discipleship for the congregation. "He and his
wife have been active in some social aspects of the church." The couple has
two sons.

Carsonhull was active as a parent when one of his sons was in the Boy Scouts
"quite a number of years ago," Olah said, but he did not hold any leadership
positions.

"We've taken the issue very seriously," Olah said. On Sunday morning, May
26, the Rev. Mark Bollwinkel, senior pastor, preached on the topic and read
the letter from Shamana. Bollwinkel invited the congregation to pray for any
alleged victims and to remember that Carsonhull has been charged but not
convicted. The pastor asked the congregation to pray for Carsonhull's family
and for the entire church. He also emphasized that everything is being done
to protect children and youth in the congregation, Olah said. 

"There is a need to be open and to help people to understand that we are not
trying to sweep this under the rug," she said, noting that the United
Methodist Church responds to such situations when they come to light.

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United Methodist News Service
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