On July 6th, Chief U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwel sentenced former Georgia Pastor, Eric Tuininga, to 10 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for admittedly engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a 14-year-old Ugandan girl. Along with paying his victim $20,000 in restitution, Tuininga will be required to register as a sex offender for life.
At the time of the sexual assault, Tuininga worked as a group minister for the U.S.-based Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Mbale, Uganda which the girl frequently visited. In June of 2019, an associate and U.S. citizen from the OPC group reached out to the U.S. Embassy Kampala American Citizen Services (ACS) in June of 2019 to report Tuininga for having sex with a Ugandan female minor.
The U.S. Department of State and agents in Kampala, Uganda investigated the case with the HSI-Child Exploitation Unit from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Peter D. Leary, the U.S. Attorney on the case, honored the courage of Tuininga’s victim for speaking out about the assault.
WJBF News Channel 6 reports:
“I want to recognize the true bravery displayed by the Ugandan girl for speaking out when she was assaulted by a trusted person of power from another country, courageously seeking justice across continents,” said Attorney Leary. Law enforcement – both abroad and here at home – took on a challenging international case. Homeland Security Investigations’ Child Exploitation Unit worked tirelessly to ensure that the truth was uncovered and the defendant was held accountable for his crime.”
Read more here.
About Post Author
