Guilty Plea Entered In Abusive Sexual Contact Case

In May, 2007, Wawona District rangers took an initial report concerning acts of sexual abuse against children committed by Norman Chenowith, then 76, who had been a maintenance worker at Camp Wawona, a Seventh Day Adventist church camp on private property within park boundaries. The abuse begin in 1995 when the victim was four years old and continued for four years. Agents investigated and three months later filed a criminal complaint charging Chenowith on 15 counts of abusive sexual conduct (18 USC 2244(a)(5)). Chenowith was arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury in Fresno on 18 counts of abusive sexual contact. He was ordered detained under supervised house arrest with electronic monitoring. Trial was originally set for last July; following several continuances, Chenowith pled guilty on December 22nd to one count of abusive sexual contact with a minor under age 12. He was remanded to custody pending sentencing on February 27th. The maximum possible sentence he faces is life in prison. For a copy of the original incident report, click on the link below.