ITHACA (NY)
Newsday
May 8, 2003, 8:59 AM EDT
ITHACA, N.Y. — Police have charged a Baptist minister with sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in his home.
The Rev. Daris Dixon-Clark, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Ithaca, is scheduled to appear in Town of Ithaca Court on May 14 on charges of third-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors.
Dixon-Clark was arrested Monday and arraigned in Town of Newfield Court by Justice Gary Allen. He was released on his own recognizance. Allen issued an order of protection for the victim.
Dixon-Clark was appointed interim minister at the Ithaca church in 1995 when the former pastor, The Rev. William Johnson Jr., was released from his duties after he was found guilty of statutory rape of a 13-year-old member of the congregation.
The Rev. Daris Dixon-Clark, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Ithaca, is scheduled to appear in Town of Ithaca Court on May 14 on charges of third-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors.
Dixon-Clark was arrested Monday and arraigned in Town of Newfield Court by Justice Gary Allen. He was released on his own recognizance. Allen issued an order of protection for the victim.
Dixon-Clark was appointed interim minister at the Ithaca church in 1995 when the former pastor, The Rev. William Johnson Jr., was released from his duties after he was found guilty of statutory rape of a 13-year-old member of the congregation.
UPDATE: As of April 7, 2004, the charges of third-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child against Daris Dixon-Clark were dismissed, according to a letter provided by the minister and signed by Ithaca Town Justice David Klein.
