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  Pastor Yields to Police; Will Face Charges
Sexual Abuse: Attorney Says Dwight Donald Greene Is Innocent

By Tataboline Brant
Anchorage Daily News [Anchorage AK]
November 16, 2006

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/8413193p-8307837c.html

A longtime Anchorage pastor wanted on charges he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl turned himself in Wednesday afternoon, though the man's lawyer claims his client should never have been jailed.

Police had been looking for Dwight Donald Greene, 50, for at least two days; the pastor and sports coach was wanted on a felony warrant alleging four counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Police say Greene fondled a girl who attended his small congregation at Calvary Chapel of Anchorage.

Greene's attorney, Steve Wells, said Greene is innocent of the charges and was not hiding from authorities but waiting to see what would happen with a motion filed in court to kill the warrant.

Wells fumed in an interview Wednesday night that Greene, given his ties to the community and his lack of criminal history, should have been summoned to court and not jailed .

In addition to being a pastor for 15 years, Greene has also taught softball at Bartlett High School for the past three years and is the owner of a small Anchorage printing company, Instant Imprints. He is not a flight risk, Wells said.

Instead of issuing a summons, police showed up with police dogs and pounded on the door at Greene's home in the middle of the night and also searched his business, Wells said. Greene's wife and kids were threatened with arrest, he said.

"The police just decided to make his family's life a living hell," Wells said. "Mr. Greene did not want to put his family through that."

Wells said Greene turned himself in "based on the aggressive nature of the police department."

"I'm just frustrated by this case," he said. "There was no call for this under any circumstances."

Detective Dawn Neer, who is handling the case, said she didn't know anything about dogs.

"The attorney can tell me all day long that he's going to turn himself in," Neer said. But until that happens, she said, police are going to do whatever they can to bring him into custody.

"I don't think we were any more aggressive than we would be on any other case," Neer said. "Bottom line is, he was hiding. There's a reason people hide."

According to a police complaint filed with prosecutors, investigators believe Greene started abusing the girl in May and continued until October, when the girl told a friend about the episodes and the friend told a guardian. The abuse occurred at the church and other places, police said.

"I hate going to church now and Bible study," the girl wrote in her diary, according to the police complaint.

Wells said the 15-year-old is not telling the truth.

When news of the charges broke Tuesday, Neer said she thought there might be other victims. None had stepped forward as of Wednesday evening.

Greene is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail. He should be arraigned today.

E-mail: tbrant@adn.com

 
 

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