Bible College Student Gets 3 Years for Molesting Boy

A student at a Newhall Bible college was sentenced Tuesday to three years in state prison for molesting a 9-year-old boy who lived near his Canoga Park home.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab also recommended that the man, Barri L. Krause, who is studying to become a minister, undergo psychiatric counseling.

After a trial in November, Schwab found Krause, 28, guilty of a single count of lewd conduct with a child in 1984. But he acquitted Krause of two additional charges of lewd conduct, saying the child’s testimony about when the alleged molestations took place was unclear.

Judge’s Concern

“I am concerned that he has not yet grasped what he has done,” Schwab said during the sentencing. “If he is going to preach, he has to abide by what he preaches instead of using it as a way to have access to children.”

According to a probation report, Krause was in his sophomore year at Master’s College in Newhall, where he is majoring in biblical ministry, when he was accused of molesting the boy.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence Picone said the boy testified that Krause fondled him while they were swimming in a pool and later while taking a shower at the Canoga Park house where Krause was living with a family he had met at church.

Picone said Krause, who had no previous criminal record, could have been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Krause testified that he and the boy went swimming nude on one occasion, that he helped the boy bathe after that swim and that he also gave him a bath after a hiking trip, Deputy Public Defender Dan Blum said. But Krause denied molesting the boy, Blum said.

Krause, who works as a guard for a Woodland Hills security firm, told a probation officer that he had planned to focus his ministry on children but that he now plans to work with adults because of the molestation charges, the report said.

Schwab ordered Krause to report next Tuesday to begin serving his sentence. He remains free on $5,000 bail.