By Pat Grossmith
New Hampshire Union Leader
May 10, 2011
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110510/NEWS03/705109957/1001
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JOEL CLEMENT
CONWAY - The man at the center of a sexual molestation case that led to local church officials being convicted for failing to report child sexual abuse to authorities is under indictment for felonious sexual assault.
Joel Clement, 53, of 424 Allard Farm Circuit, North Conway, is charged with felonious sexual assault for intentionally touching the breasts of a 12-year-old girl whether directly through the clothing or otherwise, according to the indictment. The indictment was handed up by a Carroll County grand jury.
The police investigation into the August 2009 incident led to the arrests and convictions of the minister and two elders of the Valley Christian Church, 230 East Conway Road, Redstone, for failing to report the alleged crime to authorities.
Clement, who is no longer a member of the church according to police, turned himself into police and was released on $10,000 personal recognizance bail with conditions he have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.
If convicted Clement could be sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.
Pastor Timothy Dillmuth, 34, of Stowe, Maine, and elders Richard Eland, 62, and Robert Gagnon, 70, both of Brownfield, Maine were all convicted of misdemeanor charges in November.
A fourth man, Michael Wedge, 32, of Conway, cooperated with the investigation and his case was placed on file for one year.
Lt. Christopher Perley said the case ended up with two separate investigations, one into the alleged assault and the other into the actions of church officials. Clement was indicted only recently because the investigation took longer, he explained.
According to court documents, Dillmuth met with the parents of the child who was allegedly molested by Clement and that information was shared and discussed with other members of the board of elders in September 2009. They did not report the alleged abuse.
Another church member urged the parents to report the incident to authorities and, according to court records, he was told to "keep his mouth shut."
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