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Lawyers for an alleged victim of child sex abuse by an employee of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church of Richmond wants California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the allegations because of the church’s connection to Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton.
The unnamed alleged victim has filed a lawsuit in Contra Costa County against pastor Alvin C. Bernstine, former church employee Jesse Armstrong and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church of Richmond for alleged sex abuse by Armstrong “in or around” 2011 when she was 14.
Bernstine is married to Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton.
The statement from the victim’s lawyers at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi says Armstrong is a registered sex offender in the state of California and currently incarcerated for two years and eight months in connection with his sexual abuse of the plaintiff.
The lawsuit alleges Armstrong was twice convicted of sexually abusing at least five minor girls before Bernstine hired Armstrong to be a youth choir director at the church.
The release alleges Armstrong “used his position as choir youth director to meet, groom and reportedly sexually assault Jane SD Doe for a period of approximately four months. The sexual abuse mentioned in the lawsuit occurred at various locations, including but not limited to, between classes at plaintiff’s school, and at hotels, oftentimes immediately following choir practice or other church events.”
“Armstrong was a convicted child molester at the time he was hired by Pastor Bernstine and the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church to work with children as a youth choir director,” the release said. “Even a minimal background check would have revealed that fact. Either they hired him with no background check which is the height of negligence, or they knew of his criminal background and hired him anyway which could expose them to criminal liability.”
A message left for Bernstine at the church Wednesday morning wasn’t immediately returned.
“Given the personal relationship between Pastor Bernstine and District Attorney Becton, we are calling upon Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate this case to avoid any conflict of interest on behalf of the district attorney,” said the alleged victim’s attorney Vince Finaldi.
Becton’s spokesperson Ted Asregadoo said in an email Wednesday, “Dr. Alvin Bernstine and Diana Becton were married in 2020. The events listed in this civil suit occurred in 2012. These civil claims substantially predate their marriage. As such, Diana Becton is completely unrelated to the civil claims which stem from a decade ago.”
This article is SO misleading and slanderous RE Diane Becton. She has been an incredible DA for Contra Costa County. Shame on you Tony Hicks and this newspaper for publishing such garbage.
This article is on point! Shame on those mentioned in the article! This newspaper is excellent and heroic for publishing this.
Shame on the church for hiring a convicted sex offender. If you’re hiring someone to work with children, do a background check. Failing to run a check is bad enough, but not as bad as running one and ignoring the fact that he’s a convicted sex offender. Churches know darn well pedophiles try to hide behind churches. Keep him in prison for life.
Alex, I wonder what parallel universe you’re living in. She is without question the worst DA this county has ever experienced.
DA Diane Becton got caught plagiarizing her application for DA, and has no credibility. She never worked in the DA’s office before becoming DA, and still has not personally prosecuted a single case. It is similar to appointing someone to Chief of Surgery who has never actually done a single surgery. She took this job to further her extreme liberal political views, and during her reign she has released violent offenders and her office has a significant drop in conviction rates. As witnessed in the national news coverage, her soft on crime policies led to the violent gang rampage in downtown Walnut Creek where over 80 criminals simply took over multiple stores, injuring innocent people in the spree.
The criminal justice system is based on having a DA who represents the victims of crime, and PD who represents the interest of criminals. Unfortunately, with Becton, Contra Costa County has nobody representing the interest of victims of crime, which explains the spike in crime with her as DA.
Danville Mayor Newell Arneich(a Democrat) has even endorsed Becton’s opponent in this election, along with all of the members of the Danville town council, as they realize how dangerous Becton is to our community, and the entire county.
If you value law and order, and the rights of crime victims, over the rights of criminals, do NOT vote for Diane Becton for DA. Vote for her opponent, Mary Knox, who has 37 years experience as a prosecutor and advocate for crime victims.