WINONA, MINN. (AP) - A Winona pastor was placed on leave pending charges that he used his authority to have sex with a woman in his congregation.
The Rev. Donald Dean Budd of McKinley United Methodist Church was charged late Monday with 10 counts of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for alleged sexual contact with the woman between 2003 and 2005, the Winona County Attorney's Office said.
"I'm going to deny [the charges], of course," said Budd, 62. His attorney, Richmond H. McCluer of Winona, said the charges are based on the statements of a troubled woman.
"The dangerous thing in this kind of case is you have a minister with a 31-year history of working in parishes in this immediate area," McCluer said. "The rush to judgment may well obscure what the final outcome is."
Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean said the woman first told church leaders about the alleged incidents - then turned to police late last year. According to the charges, the encounters happened in Budd's daughter's bedroom in the church parsonage, at the victim's residence, and at the church.
Budd, who is married, came to Winona in 2002 after serving the Minnesota communities of Sargeant and Brownsdale, McCluer said. Prior to that, Budd served in churches in Harmony and in Eau Claire, Wis.
A spokeswoman with the United Methodist Annual Conference in the Twin Cities said the search for a temporary replacement at the Winona parish is under way.
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