Former Minister Raped Ten Year Old Girl For Three Years, Wife Helped Him to Cover it Up – Marriage Does Not Make People More Mature and Godly

Former Minister Raped Ten Year Old Girl For Three Years, Wife Helped Him to Cover it Up – Marriage Does Not Make People More Mature and Godly

(Link): Sabattus woman convicted on all counts related to husband’s sex assaults of preteen

Excerpts (click the link above to read the entire story)

by CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS, Staff Writer
Lewiston-Auburn | Wednesday, March 12, 2014

AUBURN — It took a jury 13 minutes to find Christal Natasha Gagnier guilty on three counts related to her husband’s repeated sexual assault of a preteen girl over three years.

…In opening statements Monday, Bogue told the jury that Natasha Gagnier [wife of rapist who was a minister] had provided the victim with a medication to treat a sexually transmitted disease the girl apparently contracted from Michael Gagnier.

Bogue said Natasha Gagnier also coached the victim on what to say to police, including the omission of certain facts, before an interview last year.

…Lobozzo said Michael Gagnier invented an imaginary boyfriend for the victim to explain the need for Natasha Gagnier to help the victim undergo repeated pregnancy tests, evidence that Natasha Gagnier didn’t know about her husband’s sexual assaults against the victim.

… He said Michael Gagnier began sexually abusing Natasha when she was 12, and married her after she turned 18.

Lobozzo said Michael Gagnier had been ordained as a minister before coming to Maine with Natasha. He suffered delusions about his authority under God , Lobozzo said.

In 2012, the victim told a school friend that Michael Gagnier had raped her. That friend passed along the victim’s account to a guidance counselor. The victim later denied the abuse after she was threatened and verbally abused by Gagnier, according to prosecutors.

The victim disclosed again last year to the same friend, who, in turn, told a youth worker at a Lewiston church retreat.

A Sabattus police officer said Gagnier admitted in an interview to having sex with the girl over a three-year period, starting when the girl was 10, confirming the victim’s account. Gagnier said he was abusing narcotics at that time.

He was arrested and charged nearly a year ago; Natasha Gagnier was arrested in June.