NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
By Julia Terruso/The Star-Ledger
PLAINFIELD — It was a Tuesday evening nearly a decade ago, the woman said, when she was just a girl babysitting youngsters in her church’s basement. She said her pastor walked down the stairs, and then he called her over to sit on his lap.
She was 11 and new to the job, but even then, she said, she knew what followed was inappropriate.
“I felt him bouncing … against me,” said the woman, now 19 and identified only as R.L. “I told him, ‘My mom said I was too big to be sitting on anybody’s lap.’ ”
R.L. spoke steadily today in Superior Court in Elizabeth as she testified about the first time her pastor allegedly sexually abused her. She said the same situation played out several times a month for three years.
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