Former pastor gets 40 years in prison for abusing 2 daughters starting when they were 8

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Friday, December 15, 2023

A former South Carolina pastor who was convicted of sexually molesting his two daughters in his parsonage for years before they were eventually able to disclose his abuse as adults, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his crimes.

The former pastor, William Oswald, 62, who led Dunn’s Chapel in West Columbia, was convicted Dec. 1 on three counts of criminal sexual conduct of a minor in the first degree for sexually assaulting his two daughters over a period of time beginning in the early 1990s and continuing until the early 2000s, a statement from Byron Gipson, solicitor of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in South Carolina, said.

“As a pastor and influential member of the communities he claimed to serve, the defendant was able to hide these heinous acts from the public for many years,” Gipson said in a statement.

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Subscribe

“Over the course of the five-day trial, jurors heard testimony from the .... now adult children about the multiple acts of molestation and abuse they were forced to endure at (Oswald’s) hand. The women went on to share how the trauma they experienced as children, as well as the trauma they still bear today, has impacted not only their lives, but the lives of their family and friends as well,” he continued.

“Additionally, expert testimony was offered to educate the jury on the dynamics of child sexual assault cases so as to give them a better understanding of how it would be possible for Oswald to conceal his actions for so many years.”

While serving at Dunn’s Chapel, Oswald was active in the community, The Lexington Ledger reported. He served as the volunteer chaplain at the fire station in the town while raising his family at the church’s parsonage.

South Congaree Police Chief Josh Shumpert and other members of his department who investigated the crimes against the former pastor said Oswald will likely spend the rest of his natural life in prison.

In the initial report, Oswald’s daughters described in graphic detail how they were sexually assaulted by their father on church property more than 100 times beginning when they were around 8 years old and continued until their early teens.

“As with most cases like this one, where the children were unable to come forward with the allegations until many years later, there was very little forensic evidence linking the defendant to these crimes,” Gipson said in his statement. “Thus, the jury had to rely almost exclusively on the testimony of the parties themselves. In this case, despite the Defendant’s hours-long testimony proclaiming his innocence, the jury ultimately found him guilty of all charges.”

Oswald was sentenced to 20 years in prison for each of the crimes committed against his daughters. He will now spend 40 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Asked if he had any comment about the sentence Oswald received for his crimes, Dunn’s Chapel Pastor Gerald Watford bluntly replied, “no.”

He told The Christian Post that Oswald led the church more than 20 years ago, long “before my time.”

“I’m sure that the church had to deal with it at that time. It’s so long ago, it’s not something that’s being dealt with now,” Watford told CP.

Asked if there were any current policies in place at the church to prevent the reoccurrence of what happened with Oswald, Watford said the church had instituted many policies to prevent sexual abuse but did not discuss anything specific.

“There are all kinds of policies in place, but I don’t know when those were put in place. They have been there long before I got here,” he said. “All I can say is that the church has policies in place to prevent sexual abuse.”