The pastor of an Elgin church repeatedly spanked a teenage girl with a 3-foot piece of wood to make her stop making sex abuse allegations against a family member, police said today.

The Rev. Daryl P. Bujak, 30, of Elgin, turned himself in to police Wednesday after authorities filed a misdemeanor battery charge against him stemming from the weekly beatings that occurred between March and May of 2005.

Police now believe the 13-year-old McHenry County girl was telling the truth when she claimed a relative, Matthew Resh, molested her.

Resh, 33, of Ingleside, was arrested this week on five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault alleging he abused the girl between September 2003 and November 2005.

Elgin police said that after the girl began making claims against Resh last year, her parents brought her to Bujak for counseling.

“He believed she was lying and recommended that she be disciplined by spanking,” police Lt. Mike Turner said Thursday. “He set up a time she would come every Wednesday before services for a spanking.”

The spankings, which took place during 45-minute sessions for a two-month period, were done with a 3-foot by two-inch piece of wood molding, police said.

Bujak, who is free after posting 10 percent of a $5,000 bond Wednesday, was not immediately available for comment Thursday. Turner said he refused to speak with investigators about the allegations.

According to its web site, First Missionary Baptist Church is a fundamentalist church unaffiliated with any Baptist organization. In a letter to visitors, Bujak describes his church as “one that cares about the lives of people.”

Resh, a former plan commissioner for the McHenry County village of Richmond, is free after posting 10 percent of a $200,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court May 18. If found guilty, he could face up to 60 years in prison.