Hospital official accused in lawsuit of child sexual abuse while at Woodbury church leaves Conn. job

A health care official accused in court papers of sexually abusing a teenager at the United Methodist Church of Woodbury in the 1980s has left his position at a Connecticut health and hospital system, officials said Monday.

Newsday reported two weeks ago that Russell Hullstrung, 55, a registered nurse and a director of e-learning with the Yale New Haven Health System, allegedly abused the teen and, according to the family, his two brothers as well. One filed a lawsuit against the United Methodist Church while the other two settled with the church.

“While we do not comment on personnel matters, we can confirm that Mr. Hullstrung is no longer employed by the health system,” Yale New Haven said in a statement, without elaboration.

Hullstrung could not be reached for comment, and his attorney declined to comment. Attorneys and a spokeswoman for the United Methodist Church did not return messages seeking comment. Hullstrung was not named in the lawsuit but the suit against the church contains the allegations against him.

Kristian Chestnut, 44, who filed the lawsuit against the United Methodist Church in 2021 under the New York State Child Victims Act, said he was relieved Hullstrung is not working at the health system.

"I was shocked to learn that the man who raped me as a child, and abused many others, was working in a hospital,” Chestnut said.

“It is gratifying to know that Russell is no longer in a position to harm others under the authority of the United Methodist Church or the Yale Hospital,” he added.

The New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, an umbrella organization for the region, said previously it would not comment on the case, but that it is committed to preventing sexual abuse of children.

Hullstrung was the son of the pastor at the church in Woodbury, where Chestnut and his two brothers allege he repeatedly sexually abused and raped them when they were boys. The abuse allegedly occurred in locations throughout the church grounds, including a shed, some woods and the pastor’s house, according to the family and the lawsuit.

In 1994, Hullstrung was arrested on charges he sexually abused a 22-year-old deaf and blind man at the Helen Keller Center in Sands Point. Hullstrung pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in the third degree, and was sentenced to one year of probation and time served, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.

It was not clear when Hullstrung started working at the hospital system in Connecticut, where his duties included director of e-learning at the health system's Institute for Excellence. 

Chestnut’s mother, Irene Chestnut, a member of the Woodbury church, and her sons contend the church has conducted a decadeslong cover-up. 

“I thought going to church would definitely be a safe place to be,” Irene Chestnut, 78, told Newsday. The alleged abuse took place while she was busy at Sunday church services or gatherings afterward.