Preacher is charged with paddling woman

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star ^ | February 18, 2006 | Donnie Johnston

[Tom87]

A woman who says she was spanked with a pingpong paddle is the latest person to file charges against a Baptist preacher in Culpeper.

Laura Beth Scott, 26, charged the Rev. Charles V. Shifflett with assault "with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill."

It is the fifth charge brought this year against the former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. All are related to Shifflett's former position as headmaster of the Calvary Baptist Academy, which was part of the church's outreach program.

Shifflett, who is no longer with the church, turned himself in about 9:30 a.m. yesterday and was released on a $2,500 secured bond later in the day.

According to court documents, Scott was 10 years old when the alleged incident happened sometime between Jan. 2 and March 31, 1990.

She accuses the preacher, acting as headmaster, of calling her into his office to find out if her sister was having sex and taking birth-control pills. Scott said when she told Shifflett she didn't know, he accused her of lying.

In the court documents, Scott accuses Shifflett of forcing her to stand with her hands on the end of a pew while he paddled her. When the first pingpong paddle broke, Scott alleges, the "pastor came back with another paddle."

Scott alleges that after "a few more minutes" of paddling, someone came into the sanctuary. She accuses Shifflett of then taking her into a hall and continuing the punishment, according to the court documents.

Scott's statement maintains the paddling stopped only when she insisted she had to go to the bathroom.

Scott said she "could barely sit" afterward. She said her father inspected her that night and found "red marks that looked like blood."

Scott said her father pulled her out of the small private Christian school the next day and enrolled her in public school. She said she now has nightmares about the incident.

Shifflett, 51, also faces two counts of child-endangerment and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. All were filed in mid-January and alleged that the incidents occurred between 1988 and 1993.

Shifflett resigned as pastor about four months ago over what he called a difference of opinion with church elders. He attributed the earlier charges to vindictiveness by some church members.

[Steely Tom]

3- Many spankers enjoy a sexual aspect, which makes them pseudo-pedophiles. And don't think that the child isn't instinctively aware of this... often consciously too.

Not to quibble, but I think the proper term would be crypto-pedophiles.

[SoftballMominVA]

I was spanked at school as late as 15. I have no doubt that the teacher got some sort of sexual thrill out of it as he was known (among the students) as only spanking girls and for pulling up our skirts. No, I never told my parents because I was afraid that they would be more concerned over my being bad and would get another spanking at home. At the time I was a sophomore in high school and I talked my parents into allowing me to go to the public high school, which I loved. Unfortunately, we moved cross-country 6 months later and I was back in a Christian school again, but at least I avoided spankings as a junior and senior in high school.

Sexual thrill? I have no doubt about that.

[sauropod]

Correct. I was going to post that comment myself.

[CDHart]

I wish you luck, as you will need it. My suggestion is to take every kid at the age of 13, put him/her in a box and put the lid on. Let them out ten years later, by which time one can hope that they have become human beings.

Carolyn

[SampleMan]

Sexual thrill? I have no doubt about that.

So spanking my six-year-old makes me a pedophile in your book? Great, I'll add you to the list of people that want to raise my children.

I hope you've been able to stay in the upstanding public school system, where the removal of the threat of corporal punishment has created a utopia of civilized behavior.

[eyedigress]

"with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill."

My oh My, What DRAMA. At least it wasn't a hickory switch or a specially crafted fiberglass paddle! (which my Jr High School coach carried in his back pocket)

[Tom87]

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that just because you don’t get a sexual thrill from spanking your six-year-old doesn’t mean a male teacher wouldn’t get a thrill from spanking 15-year-old girls (especially with their skirts lifted).

Sorry you had to experience that, SoftballMom, that really sucks.

[SoftballMominVA]

How about spanking someone else's 15 year old with her dress pulled up and sometimes her underwear pulled down? Would that make that person a pedophile? How about spanking a 15 year old girl across the lap with her dress pulled up - in front of her classmates - what would you consider that person to be? What about pulling down the panties of an 8 year old and putting her across the lap and spanking her over and over with a bare hand? What about that? Those are just 3 of the mortifying incidents I endured at a variety of schools.

This is far far from spanking your own 6 year old for being naughty.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I used to get the leather belt from my dad and the wooden spoon from my mom."

My parents used what we referred to as "The Board of Correction."

[SoftballMominVA]

Out of curiosity, what would you do if another man pulled down the panties of your child and spanked her across his lap with his bare hand? and this man was her teacher, at a private Christian school? and your daughter came home with blistered handprints on her bottom, which she hid for you and your wife because she was afraid of being spanked again? Would you think that man had your child's best interests at heart? Would you think he spanked her with nothing but pure intentions? How would you feel when you found out years later, that she hid that information from you because she was afraid, and that man was allowed to teach for more than 20 more years, doing the same to other little girls?

I can't tell you the name of the school because I don't remember it - but it was at a church/school about 1 mile from the Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia. I was 8.

[SampleMan]

What you describe is clearly wrong, and yes I’ve got big issues with it.

I took exception to the automatic linking of spanking with sexual perversity. Corporal punishment is not a de facto fetish.

Given your experience, which is heinous, I don’t blame you for being hypersensitive.

[shag377]

Corporal punishment is still legally on the books in Georgia public schools, and used rarely in the elementary schools. As a high school teacher, I have never heard of it happening, but I do know basically what happened.

Two children are sent to an administrator for discipline. Corporal punishment is an option. One parent elects for it, and is returned to class. The other parent refuses and is sent home for 3 days. Fair? Not really.

Not to mention the DFACS (child protection services) gets picky about this sort of thing.

As far as what happened to the woman, this is a private school and things like this happen. I would like to see that preacher/priest take one of the tough kids at my school and attempt to paddle them. He would not last long before being in the hospital or dead.

[SampleMan]

As far as what happened to the woman, this is a private school and things like this happen. I would like to see that preacher/priest take one of the tough kids at my school and attempt to paddle them. He would not last long before being in the hospital or dead.

Perhaps if your "tough kids" had been put on their butts previously, they wouldn't be the problem they are now.

[BobTrent]

Youre not kiddin
I was spanked and paddled from the first through the ninth grade.
Maybe thats why i won’t send my kids to public or any mass skule.

[cynwoody]

1990? Sheesh!

She said. He said. Not guilty, on the preponderance.

Of course, if she's got video, that might be different.