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Tag: Voyeurism

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Benoni Enciso Charged With Sex Crimes — Twice

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pastor benoni enciso

Benoni Enciso, youth pastor at Stutsmanville Chapel in Harbor Springs, Michigan, was charged in March 2017 with “six counts, including possession of child sexually abusive material, two counts of surveilling an unclothed person, two counts of using/installing an eavesdropping device, and using a computer to commit a crime.”

Justin Hicks, a writer for Mlive, reports:

A Northern Michigan man is facing felony charges after he was accused of recording two female teens showering at his Boyne City home.

Benoni Jonathan Enciso, 49, has been charged with six counts, including possession of child sexually abusive material, two counts of surveilling an unclothed person, two counts of using/installing an eavesdropping device, and using a computer to commit a crime.

He is being held at the Charlevoix County Jail on a $50,000 bond. He is due back in Charlevoix Circuit Court on March 17 for an arraignment, where he can enter a plea.

Enciso had a family come stay at his home for the weekend of February 18-19, according to Police Chief Jeff Gaither. He knew the family, having served as the teens’ youth pastor at Stutsmanville Chapel in Harbor Springs.

During the weekend stay, an 18-year-old female noticed a cell phone was recording her when she stepped out of the shower. Further investigation determined that the phone had also captured video of her 15-year-old sister, police said.

Gaither said the teens confronted the homeowner and learned he set up the phone to record. They then reported the incident to their parents, who notified police on Feb. 21.

Enciso was arrested later that day.

The Boyne City man was an administrator at the Harbor Springs church during the time of the incident. He has since been removed from the “Staff” section of the church’s website.

In a statement, the church said, “At the time of his hiring, Mr. Enciso was not listed on a sex offender registry, nor did he have a criminal record.

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After pleading guilty to the aforementioned sex crimes, Enciso was arrested again and charged with similar crimes in another Michigan county.

Blayke Roznowski, a reporter for 9 and 10 News writes:

A former youth pastor who already admitted to child sex crimes in Charlevoix County was in court again for similar crimes in Emmet County.

9 & 10 News had the only camera in court as Benoni Enciso was arraigned on several charges for recording girls as they undressed when they stayed with him.

In Boyne City in February, a girl found an iPhone recording her in the bathroom when she visited her former youth pastor, and turned it into police.

Enciso pleaded guilty to those five child sex crime charges and is set to be sentenced next week in Charlevoix.

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Wednesday in the Emmet County courtroom Judge James Erhart arraigned Benoni Enciso, also known as Jon, on more than 20 different child sex crime charges that includes both possessing and producing child sexually abusive material and using a computer to do so.

The court documents paint a disturbing picture.

“The Charlevoix County Sheriff’s Office came across some other videos that they knew it didn’t happen in Charlevoix,” Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin said.

That evidence was turned over to Emmet County in March.

They determined Enciso recorded four videos and made close to 150 images of four girls undressing at a Bay View home he was renting between July and September 2015.

“Apparently he was a friend and trusted and was familiar with the family,” Sheriff Wallin said. “It’s a serious violation and it was an invasion of privacy for both the victims and the families themselves.”

Court documents say the former youth coordinator of the Stutsmanville Chapel admitted to hiding an iPhone, taking video and enhancing the images for sexual purposes.

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Update

Up North Live reports:

The former Emmet County youth pastor who was already sentenced to four years in prison was sentenced in a second county.

Benoni Enciso was sentenced Monday in Emmet County to 54 months to seven years on the four convictions of using a computer to commit a crime and two years to five years on the four convictions of capturing an image of an unclothed individual. The sentences for the computer crime will run consecutive to the sentences for capturing an image.

In Charlevoix County, Enciso was sentenced in May to up to four years in prison after admitting to taking videos of underage girls in the shower.

Enciso was the youth pastor at Stutsmanville Chapel in Harbor Springs.

Black Collar Crime: Lutheran Pastor Terry Herzberg Accused of Photographing Up Secretary’s Skirt

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pastor terry herzberg

Terry Herzberg, pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Hackettstown, New Jersey, was charged today with “invasion of privacy and criminal attempt at invasion of privacy.” Gethsemane Lutheran is affiliated with the Missouri Synod — a Fundamentalist sect.

Peggy Wright, a staff writer for the Daily Record reports:

The former pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church was charged Thursday with invading the privacy of his secretary by secretly taking pictures and videos up her skirt while she was working.

After an 11-month investigation, town police on Thursday charged now-retired Rev. Terry Herzberg, 66, of Tannersville, Pa. with invasion of privacy and criminal attempt at invasion of privacy. Herzberg was charged after turning himself in at the Warren County courthouse in Belvidere, where he was expected to make a first appearance before a judge, according to a release from Hackettstown Sgt. Darren Tynan.

Herzberg is accused of attempting to photograph up the victim’s skirt while she was sitting at her desk between Nov. 5, 2013 and June 27 of last year. He also allegedly took videos up his secretary’s skirt on multiple occasions while she was sitting and standing, according to the release.

The alleged victim, whose identity is not being released by the Daily Record, first alerted police on June 27, 2016 that she had observed Herzberg – then the pastor at the church on E. Baldwin Street – taking photos of her intimate body parts while she was working.

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A search warrant was issued and electronics from the church and the reverend’s home were seized. While the investigation was pending, the victim, a Flanders resident, filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, Morristown in November 2016 against Herzberg and the church.

The lawsuit charges that the church violated the state’s Law Against Discrimination and that Herzberg’s conduct interfered with the secretary’s job performance and “created an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.”

The lawsuit said the woman left the job because she could not work in that environment.

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The victim’s lawsuit said she was hired in July 2010 to work as administrative assistant to Herzberg and the director of the church’s preschool, and that she often worked alone with Herzberg, who was her immediate supervisor and the highest-level employee of the church.

The lawsuit said that Herzberg routinely made sexually provocative comments about her appearance, clothing and weight and once gave her a card that said she was sexy.

In May 2016, the complaint said, Herzberg asked the woman to call up a document on her computer. He stood directly behind her and she noticed that he was holding an object over her head which he quickly stuffed into his pants pocket, the lawsuit said.

“When plaintiff returned her attention to the computer, she again perceived something above her, looked up and observed Herzberg taking photographs of her chest. Plaintiff became very upset and strongly objected to his behavior,” the lawsuit said.

On June 27 – the day the victim last worked at the church – she wore a skirt to work and while standing in her office felt Herzberg’s presence behind her. She turned, according to the lawsuit, and saw the pastor holding a camera and straightening himself up from behind her.

Moments later, the lawsuit said, Herzberg returned to the secretary’s office and she sensed his presence behind her. She turned around and spotted him holding a camera under her skirt taking pictures, the lawsuit said.

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Working with police, the woman called the pastor and he allegedly admitted taking photographs underneath her skirt and doing the same to others, the lawsuit said.