Charges stand in teen sex case
Photo 
Russell Lesser
ELKHORN — A Walworth County judge Wednesday refused to dismissed charges against a former youth pastor accused of having sex with a Lake Geneva teen in the 1970s.
Russell J. Lesser, 63, of Bryson City, N.C., sought to have the case dismissed, claiming the statute of limitations has expired, said Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss.
Koss argued it has not expired because Lesser hasn't lived in Wisconsin since the alleged offenses occurred.
Defense attorney Stephen Kramer also wanted access to records of any counseling the victim might have received since the alleged offenses to see if she was "transferring guilt" or if she had "credibility issues," Koss said.
But Koss argued the defense was "fishing" and failed to show the records would contain relevant or exculpatory information.
Lesser, a former Youth for Christ Campus Life minister, is charged with two felony counts of sexual intercourse with a child and felony indecent behavior with a child.
He pleaded not guilty in August.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman told police she was sexually assaulted by a counselor from the summer of 1974 to the spring of 1976 while attending youth group.
The counselor began touching her inappropriately as part of a "trust" game, and months later the game led to sex, according to the complaint.
The girl and her parents confronted the counselor, but he denied any wrongdoing. At the time, the girl also denied anything inappropriate, according to the complaint.
The counselor was fired, and he moved out of the state in the spring of 1976. The girl disclosed the sexual abuse to her parents a year later, according to the complaint.
A Walworth County sheriff's detective began investigating in 2006 after speaking with an attorney who represented the girl and her family in the 1970s, according to the complaint.
A detective spoke with the woman's parents in May, and a warrant for Lesser's arrest was issued July 11.
If convicted, Lesser faces up to 30 years in prison. He remains free on a signature bond and a $2,500 cash bond.
The case is scheduled for trial in April.
Jul 28, 2010 at 10:39 a.m.
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You're welcome, yada. All you have to do is ask.
Jul 26, 2010 at 7:51 p.m.
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For those who did not follow this at the time: The victim was advised in the 1980s, when she became an adult, that the statute of limitations had lapsed. The McGuire (priest abuse) case made her realize there was still a chance to prosecute, and the Walworth DA took up the case. There was more delay while Lesser and a corroborating victim were located. A year after this article ("Charges stand in sex case"), Lesser was convicted; he is housed at Redgranite with a ten-year sentence and will be on the sex offender registry until 2034.
http://www.lakegenevanews.net/Articles-i...
http://www.lakegenevanews.net/Articles-i...
Jul 26, 2010 at 7:41 p.m.
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If this happened as they say it did, why did they wait 30 years to report it? There must be more to this story than a woman making allegations about something that happened 30 years ago.
Jul 26, 2010 at 6:41 p.m.
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(bows to webmaster) Thank you secret leader for the information.
Jul 26, 2010 at 5:31 p.m.
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Statutes of limitations vary widely so don't depend on any mental rule of thumb. There are in Wisconsin multiple statutes of limitations just for various civil torts, and some crimes (e.g. homicide) have no statute of limitation at all.
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The rationale behind a stop-and-start statute of limitation is that when a person is not publicly resident in the state, the victim or law enforcement has no way to apprehend them and hold them accountable. This made more sense in the pre-digital age.
http://www.statuteoflimitations.net/wisc...
http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/crimin...
Jul 26, 2010 at 12:55 p.m.
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Sure Dave!
Jul 26, 2010 at 12:26 p.m.
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The reason this article has reappeared on the popular discussions list so long after it's publication date is because a user left a comment on it Sunday night. Once a story gets a new comment, it makes it's way to the popular discussions list no matter how old it is. From there, it attracted more comments so it is now higher up on the popular discussions list.
Every story that has been published on this website since Oct. 2007 still resides in the database and is accessible to anyone who comes to the site.
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Jul 26, 2010 at 11:47 a.m.
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The Gazette must have a Fifth Columnist lurking somewhere on the premises, since the inclusion of this article seems to contradict its claim to be a news-reporting organization.
Jul 26, 2010 at 11:14 a.m.
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3children - Nope, I guess your right he wasn't a dirty old man having sex with a teenager. He was dirty YOUNG man having sex with a teenager! If you think being younger somehow makes this sex offender's crime more acceptable, I pray you don't have any daughters.
Jul 26, 2010 at 11:08 a.m.
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"Nice job Gazette, make a guy feel like an old pervert 38 years after the fact..."
Wow, do we owe this sex offender some sort of courtesy just because what he did happened 38 years ago? Being called a mere "old pervert" sounds pretty merciful to me.
Jul 26, 2010 at 11:02 a.m.
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I thought on crimes against children, There is no statue of limitation....I could be wrong..... in a civil case though, I believe statue of limitations is usually around 10 years.....
Jul 26, 2010 at 8:47 a.m.
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Some states do have "start-and-stop" statute of limitations when suspects have been discovered to be out of state. Not sure which ones though.
Jul 26, 2010 at 8:21 a.m.
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the gazette must be running low on articles regarding Christians gone wrong so they decided to dig into the archives. "Gazettefan" was probably going thru "anti-Christian" withdrawl's so he made a call to the Gazette brass.
Jul 26, 2010 at 6:02 a.m.
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The date of this story is 2008 -->????????
Jul 26, 2010 at 2:38 a.m.
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Wisconsin Circuit Court's website says he got 8 years in prison back in april 2009.
Jul 26, 2010 at 2:29 a.m.
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So, whatever happened to this guy then??
Jul 25, 2010 at 11:53 p.m.
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I just noticed that. Wierd
Jul 25, 2010 at 10:47 p.m.
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why did you bump an almost two year old story?
Jul 25, 2010 at 9:50 p.m.
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I don't know if I can trust a guy with a mustache like that. I'm just sayin'..........
Jul 25, 2010 at 9:29 p.m.
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Sicko
Jul 25, 2010 at 9 p.m.
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It doesn't matter how old he is now, if he did it he's a pedophile and this women has no doubt suffered mentally all these years. If he did it once, chances are he did it again to someone else. He got away with it for 34 years but now it's time to pay the piper. JMO
Dec 18, 2008 at 12:35 p.m.
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**waiting for the bible thumpers to read about the "pagan holiday"**
Dec 18, 2008 at 12:25 p.m.
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WOW! Age has not been kind to Russ. He was a very good looking man when he was 25-45. I haven't seen him in about 13 years and I hardly recognized him!
Anyone know who is sueing him? The girl or the state?
Dec 18, 2008 at 11:57 a.m.
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LOL @ Christmas Nazi
Dec 18, 2008 at 10:36 a.m.
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blood-I don't think you really hate being a grammer nazi. I really don't care either way, for christ sake.
Dec 18, 2008 at 10:09 a.m.
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I cannot believe people are defending this pederast. He should be a registered offender if this is all true. Hopefully the trial will get all the facts out on the table.
Dec 18, 2008 at 10:09 a.m.
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Leo- I hate to be a grammer correction Nazi, but if choose to add the name of Christ in your writings please treat like a proper name and capitalize the C. Tis the reason for the season afterall. Thanks.
Dec 18, 2008 at 9:49 a.m.
Dec 18, 2008 at 9:42 a.m.
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3children, I did the math on his age the abuse started in 1974 and ended in 1976 he is currently 63 years old so he was 29 when it started and 31 when it ended. There is no information on how old she was however since it is a youth camp she could have been as young as in middle school or possibly as old as you stated as 16. However even if she was 16 he was still 29 and chances of that being consensual are pretty slim, not to mention even at 16 she cannot legally consent, and he was taking advantage of his leadership position at a religious establishment to have sex with a teenager. So he was a dirty almost thirty year’s old man having sex with a kid. Simple math that is all.
Dec 18, 2008 at 9:32 a.m.
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Nice job Gazette, make a guy feel like an old pervert 38 years after the fact...
Dec 18, 2008 at 9:31 a.m.
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Actually, 32-34 years ago still puts him at 29 at the youngest. If this was your daughter, would you feel the same way about it? He really was a "dirty old man" having sex with a teenager. The article also says he "is charged with two felony counts of sexual intercourse with a child and felony indecent behavior with a child." That would lead me to believe she was under 16 at the time these assaults took place. But, regardless of her age and his age, this was non-concensual sexual conduct. **3children, I would not want to be one of yours if you feel what happened to this girl was not that big a deal. Shame on you.
Dec 18, 2008 at 9:20 a.m.
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38 years ago. Let's see he was probably 20 and she was probably 16. These details would have been nice to have in the article. He's not some dirty old man have sex with a teenager.
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