HAVERHILL — A New Hampshire man who police stated was working as a pastor at a Georgetown church owned by his spouse has been charged with failure to register as a intercourse offender in Massachusetts.
Steven Newman, 56, of 687 Important St., Fremont, New Hampshire, was arraigned July 13 in Haverhill District Court docket on the cost.
Police stated Newman is registered in New Hampshire as a “Tier 3” intercourse offender, the very best stage of intercourse offender listed in New Hampshire, police stated, and that Newman ought to have registered in Massachusetts, as he was employed on this state.
Based on a Georgetown police report, Newman’s New Hampshire legal convictions embody aggravated felonious sexual assault on an individual beneath 18 on July 1, 1999, aggravated sexual assault on an individual beneath 13 on Sept. 14, 2000, and failure to report as a intercourse offender, additionally on Sept. 14, 2000.
Particulars about his New Hampshire convictions weren’t accessible in time for this report.
Choose Cesar Archilla launched Newman on private recognizance beneath the circumstances that he don’t have any contact with youngsters beneath the age of 18 and that he not be employed at a location the place there are kids beneath 18.
Police in Georgetown, who filed the criticism towards Newman, stated they’d ample proof to point out Newman was serving as pastor of the By Religion Fellowship Church positioned at 435 Andover St., Georgetown. Based mostly on his employment standing, he was required to register in Massachusetts, police stated.
Proof of Newman’s employment as a pastor included quite a few images on the church web site and its Fb web page of Newman on the church with captions indicating he was the pastor, police stated.
Underneath the church workers director, Newman and his spouse Dinice Newman have been each listed as pastors of their church, police stated, including {that a} signal outdoors the church famous “Pastor Steve.”
Based on a police report, Newman advised police he wasn’t the pastor however did function a preacher who gave speeches on the church “on sure events” and that he didn’t obtain compensation. Police stated their analysis of the church indicated Newman was its chairman of the board and an incorporator.
Georgetown Police Lt. Scott Hatch famous in his report that on April 19 he obtained a telephone name from a girl who stated she was trying to find a church for her youngsters to attend and located info on-line about Newman.
The lady advised Hatch that Newman “likes 8 yr previous women” and that he was not registered as a intercourse offender in Massachusetts, in accordance with the report.
Hatch stated he researched Newman’s legal report and located that he had beforehand registered in Templeton, Mass., in 2014, as a intercourse offender.
Police stated Newman has been energetic within the By Religion Fellowship Church since about Might 2017.
Police stated that on April 23, they revisited the church’s web site, which they stated had been scrubbed of all info indicating Newman was the pastor.
The church’s Fb web page had additionally been altered, police stated, noting it has beforehand proven photos of Newman collaborating in a number of different occasions in Georgetown, together with “Espresso with Pastor Steve” being held on Tuesdays.
Police stated Newman reregistered with the Fremont Police Division on April 19, the place he listed his employment as a “laborer” for a junk removing firm named Main Drive LLC, 687 Important St., New Hampshire, which in accordance with a New Hampshire enterprise listing has since been “administratively dissolved.”
Newman advised police it was his spouse’s firm.
When requested how he turned unemployed two days later, Newman advised police that after every part “got here to mild” he was laid off from his spouse’s firm.
Newman was subsequently issued a summons to look in Haverhill District Court docket for failing to register in Massachusetts.
