Jehovah's Witness elder charged with sex assault of girl, 8

News Journal, Daytona Beach/March 27, 2007
By Lyda Longa

A Jehovah's Witness elder who investigators said raped a girl when she was 8 years old has been arrested, Volusia County sheriff's officials said Monday.

And now police are anxious to learn whether there are any others who may have been attacked by 40-year-old Henry William Hauch of Mims, who has been charged with sexual battery.

Investigators said Hauch, an elder with the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness in Titusville, attacked the girl in 1999 when she was 8.

Information about the assault surfaced in June 2006 when the girl -- now 15 -- was discussing sex and boys with her older sister, according to the report. When the sister asked the accuser whether she had ever had sex, she said,"Yes, but it was wrong."

The girl's parents were friends of Hauch's and attended the same church. She told her sibling that she had stayed at the Hauch home sometime in 1999.

The teen said she had to sleep with Hauch and his wife because the couple had no other beds in their residence, the report states. Detectives were able to secure a warrant recently after another woman who claimed she was sexually molested by Hauch came forward in January.

Hauch was released from the Volusia County Branch Jail on Friday after posting $250,000 bail.

Calls to Hauch's business and home were not returned Monday afternoon.