NEW JERSEY
The Trentonian
Staff Report
PEMBERTON TWP. A 59-year-old deacon has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a girl during a church service Sunday morning, officials said Friday.
Joseph V. Pullen Jr., 59, of Pemberton Township, was charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
The assault of the juvenile occurred in another part of the Calvary Baptist Church on Scrapetown Road as the public participated in the Sunday service. Pullen, a 59-year-old deacon at the church and a retired water utility worker at Fort Dix, was alone with the girl at the time of the alleged assault.
No information about the girl was released.
The investigation revealed that Pullen allegedly assaulted the same girl at another location during the fall of 2011, according to a news release from Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi and Pemberton Township Police Chief David H. Jantas. Pullen was charged with aggravated sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child in that case.
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