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  Former T.O. Pastor Pleads Guilty to Abusing Girl in '80s

By Raul Hernandez
Ventura County Star
October 19, 2006

http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/co_valley/article/0,1375,VCS_166_5078376,00.html

A former Thousand Oaks pastor pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of sexually abusing a girl at church events and on the church's school grounds in 1988 and 1989.

William Alan Malgren, 52, is facing up to 11 years and four months in prison.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark set a sentencing for Dec. 5, after a presentencing report is completed.

Malgren, a balding man, is in custody on $1 million bail and appeared in court in a wheelchair.

His lawyer Russell Baker, who works at the Public Defender's Office, declined to comment on the case.

Malgren pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and two counts of lewd acts on a child under 16.

When asked in court whether he was voluntarily and freely entering his guilty plea, Malgren replied, "Freely and voluntarily, yes sir."

Malgren had his head lowered and his hand on his forehead as he was led back to the jail.

Authorities arrested Malgren this month in Moscow, Idaho, where he is a pastor at Grace Baptist Church. He cooperated with authorities and waived his extradition rights, officials said. He was flown to Ventura County.

Although the suspected sexual abuse happened decades ago, the female victim contacted the Sheriff's Department in recent weeks, said Detective Eric Buschow. The alleged victim, whose name has not been released, told authorities that Malgren sexually abused her from 1983 to 1989 while she was a student at the now-shuttered school at the Thousand Oaks Baptist Church. The woman was 7 when she was first molested, officials said.

Buschow has said he does not know why the woman decided to come forward now.

It is unclear whether other parishioners suspected inappropriate behavior at the time of the alleged abuse, but they did ask Malgren to leave in 1989, said Pastor Glenn Sjoerdsma of the Thousand Oaks Baptist Church. Church records do not indicate the reason for his departure, Sjoerdsma said.

After Malgren left the Thousand Oaks church, he moved to Washington and Iowa before becoming a pastor in Idaho. That church also operates a day care center.

He is not a registered sex offender in any of the four states.

 
 

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