PRESTON, Minn. – A child rape victim, Lizzie Hershberger, told a courtroom that sexual abuse is not uncommon in the old-order Swatzentruber Amish community south of Preston. “There are many cases that I know of personally, that have happened, but people just don’t come forward and talk about them,” Hershberger said in a victim impact statement at the sentencing of Chriss C. Stutzman for raping her repeatedly over a six-month period in 1989 when she 14 years old. In reporting the abuse to authorities last year, Hershberger said that two Amish men witnessed Stutzman raping her in a barn and walked away. Stutzman, she noted, was a married man. Hershberger left the Amish community long ago, earned a college degree, served in her school board, and counsels women on self-empowerment. She cofounded a national organization, Voices of Hope, as a forum women to share stories.

Earlier: Guilty plea in Amish rape case