Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Reformed and Presbyterian Mbale, Uganda · 2022

Eric Tuininga: ten-year federal sentence for abusing a Ugandan girl in his pastoral care

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister and missionary

Organization

Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Spiritual nexus

Tuininga served as an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister and missionary in Mbale, Uganda, and the federal prosecutor's own account states he 'used his trusted position as a pastor' to abuse a Ugandan girl described as being 'in his care.' The record is core because the operative access was his pastoral office and the trust extended to a foreign missionary-minister by the local congregation, not merely a private acquaintance who happened to be religious.

Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2022-02-02 · guilty plea

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Tuininga pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, admitting sexual contact with a Ugandan girl who was fourteen in March 2019 while he served as an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister in Mbale, Uganda.
2022-07-06 · federal sentence

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Tuininga was sentenced to 120 months (10 years) in federal prison, lifetime supervised release, $20,000 restitution to the victim, and lifetime sex-offender registration.

Documented coercion mechanisms

pastoral authority over a minor in his care
missionary's foreign-national status and standing within the local congregation
trusted position as a minister used to isolate and access the victim

Primary record

Sources

prosecuting authority sentencing report U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Georgia, 'Federal Judge Hands Down Ten-Year Sentence, Lifetime of Supervised Release to Former Georgia Pastor for Sexually Assaulting Ugandan Minor' (July 6, 2022).: The prosecuting authority records the ten-year sentence, restitution, lifetime supervised release and sex-offender registration, and states Tuininga 'used his trusted position as a pastor' to abuse a Ugandan girl in his care while serving as an OPC minister in Mbale, Uganda.
trade press plea context MinistryWatch, 'Missionary Pastor from Georgia Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting a Minor in Uganda' (2022).: Reports Tuininga's role as an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister in Mbale, Uganda, the guilty plea, and that a U.S. citizen affiliated with the church reported him to the U.S. Embassy in Kampala.
denominational press plea context The Aquila Report, 'Former Georgia OPC Pastor Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting a Ugandan Minor on Missionary Trip' (2022).: Denominational press coverage confirming Tuininga's OPC affiliation and Uganda ministry post at the time of the offense.

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