In February 2007, the Albany, Oregon Democrat-Herald reported that the pastor of a Potter’s House church congregation had been released from custody after appearing in Benton Circuit Court on child abuse charges connected to the incident examined in Pastor’s Paddle Leads to Assault Charge. This report adds the exact charges and the court’s own next step, filling in what the original arrest story left open.
The charges, named precisely
David Lee Fink, 47, of North Albany, was released on his own recognizance, with a next court appearance set for 9 a.m. on April 5. He was represented by Corvallis attorney Karen Zorn. The paper specified the exact charges for the first time: fourth-degree assault and first-degree criminal mistreatment, both connected to an incident involving his thirteen-year-old son.
What police alleged
Albany police Captain Carter said Fink struck the boy ten times with a sixteen-inch wooden paddle wrapped in duct tape, at the family’s home, with the boy struck on the buttocks, thighs, and arm. According to police, Fink then went to the Potter’s House church at Second Avenue and Main Street, where officers arrested him after another family member had already notified authorities. These remain charges rather than a finding of guilt, and this report does not go beyond what the paper and police stated at the time.
Why this Potter’s House church update belongs in the record
What this report adds to the earlier arrest story is precision: a named defense attorney, the specific statutory charges rather than a general description of assault, and the detail that Fink drove directly to the church itself after the alleged incident, where police were waiting because a family member, not the church, had already called them. That last detail matters. The record shows a family member breaking the silence the paddle was meant to enforce, not the congregation doing so.
Sources and further reading
- “Pastor released following hearing,” Albany Democrat-Herald, February 28, 2007
- On the original arrest and charges, see Pastor’s Paddle Leads to Assault Charge
