By Terri Sanginiti
The News Journal
March 6, 2009
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090306/NEWS01/90306024
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| David A. Merritt |
An ordained minister is jailed in lieu of $425,000 bail after being charged with the rape of a juvenile following a three-week investigation.
New Castle County police on Thursday charged David A. Merritt, 44, of the 300 block of Harbor Drive in Claymont, with eight counts of first-degree rape, two counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child.
He is being held in the Young Correctional Institution.
Merritt, who as an ordained minister was in a position of trust, authority or supervision over the child, was arrested after detectives investigating the allegations linked him to the continuous sexual abuse of the victim.
The identity of the victim, who was 12 years old when the alleged abuse began in 2006, was not released.
According to court records, Merritt is employed by the Victory Christian Fellowship Church at 100 Wilton Blvd. in New Castle.
Pastor Gary Whetstone, of the Victory Fellowship, said Merritt is employed as a web designer in the print shop and has no affiliation with the church itself.
“He works in a separate building and has no interaction with the church at all,” Whetstone said. “He had never been with any children or families in the church.”
Police are asking anyone who may have had any inappropriate contact with Merritt to call Detective Joanna Burton at 395-8110.
Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com
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