Former Trainee Pastor Held on 18 Abuse Counts

A former trainee pastor at a Long Beach Methodist church was arrested in Northern California Tuesday, after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged him with repeatedly molesting two boys during the 1970s.

Gary Allen Carson-Hull, 57, of Los Altos was taken into custody there about 9:45 a.m. and held on $900,000 bail at Santa Clara County Jail, said Long Beach Police Det. Craig Newland.

Carson-Hull is charged with 18 felony counts.

Carson-Hull was a youth minister at Los Altos United Methodist Church in Long Beach between 1974 and 1979, when he sexually assaulted the boys dozens of times, Newland said.

The minister and the boys, then between 11 and 14, participated in the church’s Methodist Youth Fellowship. A 39-year-old Southern California man asked Long Beach police earlier this month about the statute of limitations for such crimes, Newland said. The man told police Carson-Hull had sexually assaulted him decades ago, the detective said. The man also led police to a 38-year-old man now living in Northern California, who then filed a report alleging that Carson-Hull also had molested him, Newland said.

“He provided the corroboration we needed to charge Carson-Hull under the law,” Newland said.

In cases dating beyond the 10-year statute of limitations, prosecutors must show serious sexual misconduct and corroboration of the crime.

In 1979, Carson-Hull was a probationary deacon, the first step toward ordination as a minister, said the Rev. Jerry Larsen, senior pastor of the 1,000-member church. “Because of the incidents here, he was ordered to give up his orders and was fired,” Larsen said. “The boys’ parents reported the incidents to the church, but they did not want it reported to police.”

Larsen said his own tenure at the church in the 5900 block of East Willow Street did not overlap with Carson-Hull’s, but he knew him. Newland said the allegations were made to the then-senior pastor by the father of one alleged victim, and the church removed Carson-Hull from the ministry and directed him to get counseling.

“Back then, there wasn’t a requirement for the clergy to report” suspected sexual abuse, Newland said.

State law now requires clergy to report suspicions of child abuse, except when they receive the information in a confessional setting or when adult victims inform clergy about incidents involving themselves.