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Black Collar Crime: Church of Christ Preacher Robert Davis Convicted of Sex Crimes

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Robert Davis, pastor of Henrietta Church of Christ in Henrietta, Texas and a teacher at Wichita Christian School in Wichita Falls, Texas, was convicted Monday on one count of sexual abuse of a child younger than fourteen.

The Times Record News reports:

A former Henrietta pastor and teacher accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty Monday to child sex abuse in the 97th District Court.

Robert Todd Davis, 51, was sentenced to eight years deferred adjudication after his plea on one count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 14.

The 97th District Attorney’s Office confirmed Thursday morning that the Davis case was closed and he had accepted the plea offer, which includes registering as a sex offender for 10 years.

A jury trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday but Davis accepted the deal Monday before the trial started.

Davis turned himself in to the Archer County Jail in May 2016, after a warrant was issued for his arrest. His bail was set at $250,000 and he was released on bond the same day he turned himself in.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said they began an investigation on Davis after an outcry from the victim. The investigation was turned over to the D.A.’s office in February 2016.

The incidents charged in the indictment against Davis happened between May 2009 and May 2013. The allegations included one act of sexual penetration and two acts of indecency with a child.

Davis was employed at Henrietta Junior High School as a science teacher but left the school in 2011.

He was also employed with Wichita Christian School as a high school Bible teacher and was one of their cross-country coaches. The school confirmed he was no longer employed there in 2016, according to a previous Times Record News article.

Davis was a pastor at the Henrietta Church of Christ prior to the warrant in 2016. The church’s website no longer lists him as a minister or pastor.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Garry Evans Accused of Sexually Molesting Children

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Garry Evans, pastor of Rushville Baptist Temple in Rushville, Indiana, stands accused of molesting several church children. I previously reported this story here.

RTV-6 reports:

A 72-year-old pastor in Rush County is accused of molesting multiple young children in his congregation.

Garry Evans, Pastor of the Rushville Baptist Temple was arrested Wednesday evening during a traffic stop.

According to court documents, the investigation began after a 3-year-old child who attends the church told her mother that Evans had taken her into his office to give her candy then “pulled his pants down” and made her touch his genitals.

Shortly after the investigation began another mother came forward saying her 7-year-old and 5-year-old claimed they had also been touched by the pastor. Both girls told investigators that “The Pastor” gives the kids candy when they go into his office alone, and touches them or makes them touch him. The youngest girl told investigators that it started happening after she started kindergarten in August.

And another mother with two young girls at the church also came forward with a similar story.

Rushville Police Chief Craig Tucker said a woman also came forward and said she had been molested by Evans decades ago, in a different community. That woman helped police pursue the new cases, but it is unclear if charges can be sought in hers.

Evans is charged with three counts of child molestation, four counts of sexual battery and five counts of child solicitation. He is currently being held without bond at the Rush County Jail.

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Update

A November 3, 2017 WISHTV-8 report states:

A Rushville pastor last month arrested and charged with child molestation on Friday faced additional criminal charges.

Rush County Prosecutor Phil Caviness said he filed a motion Friday to amend the charging information. He filed two more charges — child molestation and child solicitation — after another victim who is 6 years old came forward.

The pastor, Garry Evans, 72, now faces a total of 14 charges, the prosecutor said. One alleged victim was a 3-year-old. He had previously been accused of molesting three girls ages 3 to 7.

On Friday morning, a Rush County judge also ordered the pastor to be put on a GPS device to keep track of his whereabouts, the prosecutor said.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Klint Bitter Charged With Sexual Assault of a Child

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Klint Bitter, pastor of kids and student ministry at Christ Community Church in Omaha, Nebraska, was charged today with first-degree sexual assault of a child.

WOWT-6 reports:

A former youth pastor at a west Omaha church is now in jail, accused of having sex with a 15-year old prostitute.

Klint Bitter turned himself in at the Sarpy County Jail Tuesday. He’s charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child. The 34-year-old allegedly answered an online ad posted by a sex trafficking suspect in Bellevue.

Bitter was a pastor of kids and student ministry at Christ Community Church near 108th and Harney. Church officials said Bitter has been fired from that position.

KETV-7 adds:

Sarpy County authorities say Klint Andrew Bitter, 34, is held without bond on one felony count of sexual assault.

A criminal complaint says the victim is 15-year old girl and that Bitter assaulted her in the parking lot of an abandoned supermarket in Bellevue on February 27th, 2017.

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KETV NewsWatch 7 has learned Bitter’s arrest is part of a wider investigation into human trafficking. In March 2017, a Bellevue West High School student was charged with first-degree sexual assault and human trafficking based on an investigation that began on February 27th.

The Omaha World Herald reports:

A 34-year-old former youth pastor will stand trial in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

Klint Bitter appeared in Sarpy County Court on Wednesday morning and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Judge Robert Wester set Bitter’s bail at $1 million and ordered Bitter not to have contact with anyone 18 or younger.

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Sarpy County Deputy Attorney Phil Kleine told the judge Bitter contacted DeArch Stubblefield online to set up a meeting with the girl. In asking for a high bail, Kleine compared Bitter’s case to co-defendants Stubblefield and Jason Gibson.

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Thomas Petersen, Bitter’s attorney, asked for a $150,000 bail and told the judge Bitter saw the ad on Craigslist and then emailed to ask if the girl was 18.

Update

Today, October 20, 2017,  the Bellvue Leader reports that Bitter has been released from jail after posting ten-percent of his $1 million bond:

Bitter, 34, of Omaha, appeared in Sarpy County Court on Wednesday morning and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Judge Robert Wester set Bitter’s bail at $1 million and ordered Bitter not to have contact with anyone 18 years or younger. He was released later Wednesday after posting 10 percent of that bail, $100,000.

Sarpy County Deputy Attorney Phil Kleine told the judge that Bitter contacted DeArch Stubblefield, then 18, to set up a meeting with the girl. Bitter’s attorney said he was responding to a Craigslist ad. A criminal complaint said the offense took place near the intersection of Fort Crook and Childs Roads on Feb. 27.

That same day, Bellevue police said they began an investigation into a report of possible human trafficking, which led to the March arrest of Stubblefield.

In asking for a high bail, Kleine compared Bitter’s case to co-defendants Stubblefield and Jason Gibson, who was charged March 9 with the same offense as Bitter. Stubblefield was initially held on no bail and Gibson was held on $2 million bail.

Gibson, 41, later pleaded no contest to attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child. He will be sentenced next month and faces up to 50 years in prison.

And on Wednesday, Stubblefield pleaded guilty to attempted human trafficking, attempted aiding and abetting first-degree sexual assault of a child, and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors dropped an additional charge of child abuse. He faces a maximum of 72 years when sentenced in December.

Thomas Petersen, Bitter’s attorney, asked Wednesday for a $150,000 bail amount. He told the judge that Bitter emailed after seeing the Craigslist ad to ask if the girl was 18.

n asking for a lower bail amount, Petersen also said his client is married with children, owns a home, is college educated and until recently was employed as a pastor.
Mark Ashton, lead pastor at Christ Community Church, said Bitter worked for the church for seven years and was in charge of the church’s kids and student ministries.

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Update

Bitter’s co-defendant, Jason Gibson, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child and received a six-month jail sentence. Gibson must also serve five years probation and register as a sex offender.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastors John Wilson and Laurence Peterson Guilty of Sex Crimes

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Pastor John Wilson, Mary Wilson, Pastor Laurence Peterson

John Wilson and Laurence Peterson, pastors of Liberty Pentecostal Church in Keighley, Bradford, England, along with Wilson’s wife, were recently convicted of multiple sex crimes.

Last year, Keighley Online reported:

A clergyman and his wife have been charged with sex crimes against worshippers at a Keighley church.

Rev John Wilson, 69, his wife Mary, 78, and assistant pastor Laurence Peterson, 58, are accused of a string of historic offences at the Liberty Pentecostal Church, in Sunderland Street.

Rev Wilson and Peterson had previously appeared in court for alleged sexual attacks on females

But, today both men, and Mrs Wilson, appeared together at Bradford Magistrates’ Court after two more women made complaints to the police following earlier publicity.
Mrs Wilson, who lives with her husband in Shann Avenue, is accused of sexual assault on a female between January 1985 and January 1986, in that she aided and abetted , counselled or procured John Wilson to indecent assault.

Rev Wilson is accused of five counts of indecent assault against the same complainant between 1985 and 1990. He also faces two fresh charges of rape and three counts of indecent assault against another woman between 1990 and 1998.

Peterson, of Eric Street, is accused of indecently assaulting one of those alleged victims four times between 1986 and 1990. Rev Wilson and Peterson had previously appeared in court for alleged sexual attacks on three females.

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Silver-haired Wilson is charged with sexually assaulting a woman at the Liberty Pentecostal Church between January and December 2010.
He is also charged with three counts of indecent assault on a schoolgirl between October 1985 and October 1987 when she was under 16 years old.
Wilson is charged with continuing the abuse against her for a further eight years after she turned 16. He faces eight counts of indecent assault on the same parishioner between 1987 and 1995.

Wilson and Peterson are charged with five counts of conspiring to rape the same victim between 1985 and 1995. Both men are also charged with conspiring to rape another under aged female member of the congregation between July 1980 and July 1984. Wilson is also charged with two offences of indecently assaulting the same child at a location in Kensington Street, between July 1980 and July 1982.

The alleged crimes span 30 years from 1980 to 2010.

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In June 2017, the defendants pleaded not guilty. The court set a July 24, 2017 trial date.

In August 2017, John and Mary Wilson and Laurence Peterson were found guilty of sexually assaulting and abusing numerous women. The Yorkshire Post reported:

A church minister who sexually abused six vulnerable women has been warned by a judge he faces “a very substantial” prison sentence.

Pastor John Wilson, 70, carried out a series of indecent assaults under the pretext of being commanded by God to rid the complainants of evil spirits. The sexual abuse took place over more than two decades while Wilson served at the Liberty Pentecostal Church in Keighley.

Following a trial lasting more than a month Wilson, of Shann Avenue, Keighley, was today found guilty on more than a dozen charges of indecent assault and further allegations of sexual assault and conspiracy to commit indecent assault after the jury deliberated for about 15 hours.

The abuse was said to have taken place between the mid-1980s and 2010 with victims, who cannot be identified, being assaulted during one-to-one “deliverance sessions”.

At the start of the trial in July prosecutor David McGonigal told the jury that the case involved sexual abuse “in the name of religion”. “John Wilson was purporting to rid the women of evil spirits by sexually touching them,” he said. “It is the prosecution’s argument that he was doing for his own sexual gratification.

“They were taken under the wing of Mr Wilson and he would blame the abuse on evil spirits inside of them. These were vulnerable women.” Wilson’s wife Mary, 79, was also convicted on two charges of aiding and abetting him to commit indecent assault while his assistant Laurence Peterson, 59, of Eric Street, Keighley, was found guilty on similar aid and abet charges and further allegations of conspiring with Wilson to commit indecent assault.

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John Wilson was sentenced to 21 years in prison. His wife Mary was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for two years. Laurence Peterson has not yet been sentenced.

The Future of Firearms by VICE News on HBO

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From the introduction to The Future of Firearms:

The firearms industry experienced unprecedented growth in the last decade. Fear of government regulation drove much of that growth as President Obama repeatedly tried to pass gun control laws in the aftermath of numerous mass shootings. Now, with the political landscape fundamentally changed, the industry, and gun rights advocates, are looking for new ways to expand upon their 2nd amendment rights and the bottom line — with some surprising results.

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Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Catholics T.J. Lang and Michael Voris Say Protestantism Leads to Atheism

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In a post titled, Does Protestantism Ultimately Lead to Atheism? T.J. Lang asserts that Protestantism leads to immoral, Satanic atheism:

The Lutheran Church he founded remained the state Church of Sweden until 2000 and was the only church allowed in the country until the middle of the 19th century. Even today, it is funded by and considered a “department” of the Swedish secular government. In fact, Catholicism was illegal in Sweden for more than a quarter of a century. At times, the death penalty was invoked for the “crime” of being or becoming Catholic. It was only dropped in 1873.

Roughly 2 percent of the population of Sweden are Catholics and Orthodox, and they are almost entirely immigrants. Given that Sweden has been influenced by only the Lutheran faith for almost 500 years, the state of Christianity in Sweden should be an indication of whether Protestantism, or more specifically, the first version of Protestantism – Lutheranism — has had a positive impact on Christianity.

Statistics regarding the state of the Christian church in Sweden are, to say the least, shocking. Today, 61 percent of Swedes officially belong to the Lutheran Church, down from 95 percent in 1972. Both statistics are misleadingly high, in part because anyone born before the year 2000 was automatically enrolled in the state church regardless of religious belief or practice. For the vast majority, membership is merely a formality and doesn’t mean much in their lives. In the 1990s, 15 percent of Swedes claimed a belief in a personal God and only 19 percent believed in an afterlife.

According to various studies, between 46–85 percent of Swedes now consider themselves “irreligious,” meaning that in their lives there is an “absence of religion, indifference to religion or hostility to religion.” According to a Zuckerman poll, the same figures for a few “Catholic countries” are as follows: Portugal: 4–9 percent, Greece (Eastern Orthodox): 16 percent, Italy: 6–15 percent. These statistics are contrasted with that of Germany, the home of Luther’s Reformation, at 41–49 percent, and the United States at 3–9 percent.

The Living Church, an independent Anglican organization, reports that only about 400,000 of the 6.6 million Swedes attend church on a monthly basis (6 percent), and only 15 percent of the members of the church say they believe in Jesus Christ. It is not insignificant that an equal number of Swedes are stated atheists: “Of the 3,384 churches in Sweden only 500 or so are used, at most, once a month.”

Fifty-five percent of children born in Sweden today are born out of wedlock as compared to 9 percent in Greece, an Eastern Orthodox country, which was never really infected with Protestantism or influenced by “salvation by faith alone.” Of course, this has a tremendous impact on the percentage of children reared in single-parent families. Twenty-two percent of children in Sweden are in single-parent situations, whereas in Italy, it’s only 10 percent.

According to an article in the Weekly Standard, “A majority of children in Sweden and Norway are born out of wedlock. … Not coincidentally, these countries have had something close to full gay marriage for a decade or more. Same-sex marriage has locked in and reinforced an existing Scandinavian trend toward the separation of marriage and parenthood.”

Of course, Sweden isn’t the only country that has been influenced by Protestantism or more specifically, the original Protestantism — Lutheranism. As such, it would be instructive to determine how Christianity in general and Christian moral values are faring in those countries.

Obviously, these statistics show that the greater the influence of Protestantism, the weaker the belief in God and the less the importance of religion in general. Other country by country statistics on issues such as abortion rates, marriage rates, cohabitation rates and divorce rates are all pretty shocking in the countries the are strongly Protestant. Obviously, Satan is having his greatest successes in the predominantly Protestant countries, and in fact, specifically in the Lutheran countries.

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In a video transcript titled, Donald Trump and Atheists, Michael Voris had this to say:

The entire American electorate is in massive flux and about to undergo the most significant change in the country’s history.

If current trends hold or even accelerate by just a little, this may very well be the last election where a majority of voters will be white Christians — if not this election, certainly 2020. This is due to two large factors: the decline of the Protestant majority and the rise of the religiously unaffiliated, also known as “nones.”

The nones, at least many of them, while claiming to be “spiritual” are functionally and in practice atheists. They are a-theist not so much in their cores but in their lives, where it really matters after all. We have said at various times that Protestantism leads to atheism, and here are reports back from the political front lines proving the truth of that statement.

Up until about the past 10 years, the bulk of the decline among white Protestants was largely among more liberal mainline Protestants, like Methodists, Episcopalians or Presbyterians. Since the re-election of Ronald Reagan in 1988, their numbers have been cut nearly in half to just 14 percent of the overall population.

But more surprising, in the last 10 years, there has also been a notable decline among the more conservative branch of white Protestantism —Evangelicals. Since the end of Ronald Reagan’s last term in 1988, they have dropped from 22 percent to just 17 percent. Add both those Protestant camps together and you get just 31 percent of the electorate.

What’s driving the decline over the past generation? The rise of the younger generation, 34 percent of which identify as unbelievers — not affiliated with any religious body at all.

It doesn’t take a genius to look at the numbers here. A larger percentage of millennials — 34 percent — are unaffiliated with any religion than the the overall percentage of white Protestants — 31 percent — relative to the population. All this volatile mixture needs is a little more time, perhaps one more election cycle, before white Protestant voters lose their majority status. And then, by the time, today’s millennials are in their forties, they will be the majority — and you need to stop and think about that for a moment.

What is looming just over the horizon, politically and culturally speaking, is a nation where Christians are the minority, and cultural atheists are the majority. And this is owing precisely to the Protestant ethos of the rule of the exaltation of the individual. All of Protestantism is built on this principle — the principle of individual interpretation of Scripture, of individual personal relationship with Jesus, unmediated by the Church.

Protestantism eventually gives way to atheism, because philosophically, it is atheism. What, after all, is atheism? It is a-theism, no God. What does Protestantism, with its me-centered theology, produce? That you become your own God. You determine your morality. You determine the meaning of Scripture. You determine your own theology. There is no longer room for God, because the individual assumes the throne — kind of the working definition of atheism.

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Both of these excerpts are from the Church Militant website

Physicist and Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss on Science and the Origins of the Universe

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Lawrence Krauss, 63, is an American-Canadian theoretical physicist and cosmologist who is Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, and director of its Origins Project. In the video that follows, Krauss answers questions about science, the scientific method, and the origins of the Universe. Enjoy!

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Christians Say the Darnedest Things: John Piper Compares the Pleasure of Sexual Intercourse to Child Eating Ice Cream

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The most exquisite sexual ecstasies in this age are like a child’s enjoyment of ice cream. There is as much distance between sexual pleasures in this world and the ecstasies of the spiritual body in the age to come as there is between a child’s enjoyment of ice cream and the pleasures of his marriage bed twenty years later.

Childlike ice-cream pleasures are prelude and pointer to adult sexual pleasure. Similarly, sexual pleasure in this age is prelude and pointer to unimaginably greater pleasures of the spiritual body in the age to come.

— John Piper, Desiring God,  Matrimony No More, October 9, 2017

Black Collar Crime: First Baptist Church of Columbia Accused of Covering Up Sex Crimes

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The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

A lawsuit was filed this week against First Baptist Church of Columbia, South, Carolina, alleging that church leaders, including its pastor Wendell Estep,  covered up sex crimes.

John Monk, a reporter for The State, writes:

A Richland County lawsuit quotes numerous sexually explicit text messages that a First Baptist Church youth worker allegedly sent to a boy in a church program, adding church officials did little or nothing for years while the worker sexually abused the youth.

That inaction is part of the downtown Columbia church’s history of failing to take action against potential molesters, the lawsuit alleges. The boy, now 17, was about 11 when the abuse began, according to the lawsuit, filed in Richland County Circuit Court this week.

Because of the assaults and touching, the youth suffered personal injury and “severe emotional distress,” the lawsuit alleges, asking for a minimum of $150,000 in damages.

To expose the church’s alleged pattern of concealing abuse, the lawsuit also seeks a court order to unseal three sealed civil lawsuits against First Baptist and an ex-deacon, John Hubner, a convicted child sex abuser. Hubner, 69, was convicted in 2002 in Richland County for lewd acts on a child at First Baptist and now is serving a 36-year sentence.

In response to questions from The State about the lawsuit, First Baptist released a statement Friday.

“Last fall, First Baptist Church became aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by an unpaid volunteer in the student ministries department,” said the statement by R. Bryan Barnes, a First Baptist member and Columbia lawyer.

“As church policy dictates, the appropriate committee investigated. The committee concluded the volunteer violated church policies. Disciplinary action was taken. The volunteer no longer attends First Baptist Church and was prohibited from further contact with our students. … Church lawyers advise against further public comment at this time.”

The statement did not address the lawsuit’s allegations that First Baptist has covered up instances of sexual abuse or whether the church had contacted law enforcement about the misconduct alleged, as required by state law.

Peter Farr, an attorney for the church, said Friday those and other issues will be addressed at the proper time, in the proper forum, as the legal action continues.

Founded in 1809, First Baptist Church is one of the Columbia area’s biggest, most respected and oldest churches. It has some 7,000 members, and its $13 million, 3,300-seat sanctuary occupies a city block in downtown Columbia.

The church’s pastor, Wendell Estep, 74, has led First Baptist for 31 years. He recently announced his retirement as of next year.

Estep is a named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with First Baptist Church, Philip Turner and Andrew McCraw. The lawsuit identifies Turner as First Baptist’s staff student minister and McCraw as “a youth assistant mentor and assistant small group leader in First Baptist’s youth group.”

A church spokesman said none of the individuals named in the lawsuit would comment.

The suit was brought by a minor child, identified by the pseudonym Joel Doe, and his parents, Jane Doe and John Doe. The identity of minors in sex cases is confidential.

According to the lawsuit, “Joel Doe” began attending First Baptist while in elementary school. At age 11, he began participating in a Sunday evening youth program, designed “to create a safe environment for children to discuss various religious topics with each other and various young adult mentors,” the lawsuit says.

McCraw was assigned to be “Joel Doe’s” youth mentor and began to invite the youth to movies and dinner, and to sleep over at his house with no other “adults or youth members present,” the lawsuit says.

McCraw also began to send “Joel Doe” text messages, sometimes dozens a day, that were “sexually motivated, inappropriate and illegal,” said the lawsuit, which quotes 17 texts between July 29 and Aug. 16 of 2016.

McCraw also sent nude photos of himself to “Joel Doe,” inappropriately touched the youth while on First Baptist’s property, and “proclaimed his love” for the youth, according to the lawsuit.

During this time, First Baptist officials should have known McCraw was spending “inordinate amounts of unsupervised time with “Joel Doe,” the lawsuit says, adding church official Turner had reprimanded McCraw for having children at his house with no other adults present.

After being told of McCraw’s activities, church officials did not report them to law enforcement “despite having a statutory duty to do so” under the Child Abuse Victims’ Rights Act, the lawsuit alleges.

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Over the years, First Baptist and Estep have fostered “a culture of secrecy that encouraged their employees … to shield individuals” who prey on children, the lawsuit says. The church had an incentive to promote itself as a safe place because it depends “on the financial contributions of parishioners,” the lawsuit said.

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On February 6, 2018, The Daily Caller reported that First Baptist Church agreed to issue an apology, admit liability, and pay $300,000 to the plaintiff:

A Baptist church in South Carolina settled a child sexual abuse lawsuit, agreeing to issue an apology, admit liability, and to pay $300,000 to the plaintiff.

Bryan Barnes, spokesman for First Baptist Church of Columbia, S.C., said that church leadership issued the apology and explained the terms of the settlement before the congregation on Sunday, according to the Baptist Press. The case involved a boy identified only as “Joel Doe” who alleged that Andrew McCraw, a volunteer in the church’s youth ministry, engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with him when he was between the ages of 11 and 16.

“Today, we want to offer an apology for the inappropriate and unacceptable conduct this young man endured and express regret for what we failed to do to prevent it,” church leaders said, according to the outlet.

“No student should have to experience what this young man endured,” the church’s statement added.

Doe filed the lawsuit in October 2017 through his parents against First Baptist Church Senior Pastor Wendell Estep, and McCraw. The lawsuit alleged that McCraw initiated a relationship with Doe as a young adult mentor in a church youth program, but the relationship progressed in intimacy to inappropriate touching and sleepovers at McCraw’s house with no other adults or youths present.

The lawsuit also lists several sexually explicit text messages that McCraw sent to the boy, such as “Be there in 10. Have the lube ready,” and “Hey, anything to get that *** in a swimsuit.” Doe and his parents alleged that McCraw sometimes sent dozens of such messages to him a day.

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Church leadership initially issued a rebuttal against specific allegations within the lawsuit. Church leadership contested the claims they knew about the relationship between Doe and McCraw before law enforcement started investigating McCraw.

They also contested that they knew McCraw spent time alone with the youth away from church property, and that the case was part of a church conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse. The case was one facet of a cover-up conspiracy, the lawsuit alleged, related to former First Baptist deacon John Hubner, who in 2002 was sentenced to 36 years in prison for sexually abusing an underage girl.

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Doe and his parents subsequently amended their lawsuit with added allegations that the church chose not to report McCraw to the police to avoid a public scandal and that they failed to notify the next church in which he served of his sexually predatory behavior.

The church has now, according to the terms of the settlement, accepted responsibility for the entire situation, and stated that even though they “had strong policies in place” and subjected McCraw to a background check before allowing him to serve. Leadership said they will reevaluate their youth protection policies and strengthen them where necessary, especially with regard to adults texting church youths.

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