Creative Director of Company That Creates Church Curriculum Sentenced to Prison For Sexually Abusing Six-Year-Old

Protestia ^ | August 2, 2024 | staff

[Morgana]

The Creative Director of a major Christian publishing company has been sentenced to eight years to life in the Colorado Department of Corrections, a punishment served after he admitted to sexually abusing a six-year-old girl.

In September 2022, a young woman came forward and said she’d been sexually assaulted repeatedly by Michael Paustian when she was six years old. Paustian was the Creative Director of Group Publishing, a company specializing in publishing curricula for churches. According to the Larimer County’s office:

Throughout the investigation, it was revealed that the victim had disclosed the assaults to several members of the family, and Mr. Paustain had disclosed it as well, but the authorities were never notified. The victim did not receive the help she needed, and Mr. Paustian did not receive the accountability he deserved.

After finally getting the word out and getting someone to take her seriously, Paustian was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty. While the eight-year sentence seems mild, it could end up being much longer than that.

This sentence is known as an indeterminate sentence, meaning that he will first become eligible for release to parole at the completion of the 8-year sentence but can be held in custody for the remainder of his life. The Department of Corrections determines when he will be released.

If he is ever released, he will have to become a registered sex offender and have supervised release around children, as well as supervised and limited internet access.

Church Leaders reports that Paustian began working at Group Publishing in 2005 and was immediately terminated once they learned of his guilty plea. He did not have contact with children in his role.

[Jane Long]

Millstone.

[Getready]

I checked out Group publishing website. Has very brief “statement of Faith”....
The rest of their info about how they work sounds like it’s out of the typical corporate list of “values”... cooperation, taking chances, stimulation, connectivity, etc...some “Christian” words like forgiveness, servanthood, relationship with Jesus...etc...sounds basically good...but it seems bland...