Police Officer Sentenced In Church Child Abuse Case

A former Corona police officer who did not disclose allegations that a 13-year-old boy was possibly being abused by the pastor and other members of her church was sentenced today to three years probation and 250 hours of community service.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz ordered the 44- year-old defendant to complete her community service by Oct. 15 and also pay a $400 fine.

Bell, a 23-year law enforcement veteran, was dismissed from the police department within days of her Feb. 22 conviction.

The case against her stemmed from the March 2012 arrests of three men affiliated with Heart of Worship Church in Corona. The defendants -- Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, Nicholas James Craig, 22, Darryll Duane Jeter, 28 -- are facing a slew of felony charges for allegedly threatening and physically assaulting a then-13-year-old boy.

The youth, Jacob, was turned over to the men by his mother, also a member of the church, to be disciplined for sexually abusing his younger sister, according to prosecutors.

Bell testified that on March 26, 2012 -- three days before Remmers and his co-defendants were arrested and charged in the case -- an eccentric parishioner, Steve Larkey, had approached her during an evening service and told her that Remmers, the pastor, had "poked" Jacob's chest with a pair of pliers.

According to Bell, she asked Larkey whether he had seen the incident, and he replied he hadn't.

"He was just rambling. Nothing was more important than the other," Bell testified. "He didn't say, 'I want to report this. I need your help."'

Bell told Larkey to go address his concerns to Remmers, and the witness said he would. According to the defendant, she did not feel the encounter warranted immediate action and decided she would speak privately with the boy when she saw him at church later in the week.

Deputy District Attorney Will Robinson presented mobile phone records indicating Bell either called or traded text messages with Remmers about 100 times between March 26 and March 29, 2012. However, the officer denied ever broaching the subject of Larkey's allegations and insisted that Remmers never disclosed anything potentially criminal to her.

Remmers, Craig and Jeter are awaiting trial on charges that include kidnapping, making criminal threats and inflicting corporal injury on a minor.

The men allegedly strapped Jacob to a chair in the bathroom of Remmers' home and pepper-sprayed him, and Remmers alone is accused of pinching the boy's chest with pliers to punish him.