Robert Lyzenga, the former pastor of Sunrise Christian Reformed Church in Lafayette, admitted Thursday to secretly video-recording women and girls within two church restroom stalls over the course of several months more than two years ago.
Lyzenga, 57, held his composure throughout the hearing and spoke with a stressed but steady tone as he pleaded guilty to all 10 counts, without the benefit of a plea agreement.
Judge Randy Williams set a sentencing hearing for July 18 and said Lyzenga’s sentence will be served concurrently, meaning he’ll get two to 10 years.
(Photo Credit: Michael Heinz/Journal & Courier )
Lyzenga admitted to five Class C felonies for child exploitation and five counts of Class D felony voyeurism, one charge for each of his 10 victims.
The girls ranged in age from 5 to 16 when they were caught by Lyzenga’s camera.
“It was not my intention to record children,” he said during testimony Thursday.
Even after learning that juveniles had been recorded, however, Lyzenga continued recording and reviewing the footage, he said.
Lyzenga said he thought early on that he wouldn’t feel terribly guilty as long as he didn’t know which parishioners he’d recorded. After awhile, though, he did figure out who his victims were, he said.
He installed the first camera during the Thanksgiving 2011 season. The second one went up, he said, in early 2012. He pointed the devices at two of the five toilets in the women’s restroom just off the sanctuary, where Lyzenga continued to lead services.
“They were Velcro-ed to the door,” he said. “I made it look like it was an air freshener.”
Lyzenga continued as pastor about five months, during which time he downloaded footage, then reinstalled the cameras more times than he could recall, until he was caught in late April 2012.
“I could’ve stopped at any time, but I didn’t,” he said, calling his actions “shameful.”
Lyzenga said he hasn’t undergone treatment for a mental illness, though he did go to a psychiatric hospital the day after he was arrested.
About a dozen members of the church community who attended the hearing declined to comment.
Defense attorney Kent Moore said after the hearing that his client didn’t target the juveniles.
“He was aware of the possibility,” Moore said, “but the goal was not to video children.”
Prosecuting attorney Emily Worsinger declined to comment.
(via IndyStar)
