The mother of a 13 year-old girl, allegedly raped by an employee of an Oklahoma megachurch, has filed a lawsuit alleging that the church failed to inform the mother for two weeks, withheld the information from the police and laid blame on the child, as reported by the Courthouse News Service.
C.D., a former employee at Tulsa's Victory Christian Center, has since been charged with first-degree rape.
The child, referred to as M.B. in the lawsuit, has named the church as defendant in the suit, filed by her mother, on September 21 in Tulsa County Court.
As alleged in the suit, C.D. raped M.B. in one of the church's stairwells on August 13 during a church summer camp event. M.B. reported the rape to officials at her church on August 14.
The suit alleges that the church made no action, other than to attempt to cover up the rape.
According to the complaint, "Thereafter, defendant used four of its adult leaders, including Youth Director (P.W.) and High School Outreach Program Director (A.G.) to question and intimidate child victim so as to conceal her rape from the public and parent. During this questioning, (P.W.) and (A.G.) repeatedly told child victim the assault was her fault."
The suit states that there was a second meeting, between P.W., A.G. and M.B., where M.B. was again told that the rape was her doing.
On August 24 church officials fired C.D. and on August 30 M.B.'s mother was told by church staff what had occurred.
H.S., the church's human resources director, told M.B.'s mother that her daughter had engaged in "an inappropriate relationship" with one of their employees.
According to the suit, "Wickedly, (H.S.) told parent that the child victim had admitted to having a consensual sexual relationship with (C.D.). (H.S.) falsely informed parent that the police had been contacted. In fact, parent gave the first report of her daughter's rape to the Tulsa Police Department on August 30."
S.D., the senior pastor of the church, called to offer prayers but failed apologize – or to notify the police. Instead, according to the suit, both mother and daughter were treated to "psychological abuse and manipulation" by the church officials that were "perverted and misguided."
Five officials from Victory Christian Center have been charged with failure to report abuse or neglect of child under 18, according to the church's website, and have been suspended.
The church has stated that they are cooperating with authorities. A statement released by the church read, "The safety and well-being of anyone who comes on our campuses is extremely important to our ministry. We are deeply saddened and greatly disappointed by this event."
On September 17 another church employee, I.C., was charged with lewd or indecent proposal to a child and use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime. A second statement released from the church read, "Prior to their hiring, (C.D.) and (I.C.) both passed a screening process that included personal references and a nationwide background check. No history of any criminal activity was found."
Damages are being sought for negligence and emotional distress.
If you or someone you hold dear has been hurt by an employee of a church, or the church has attempted to cover up an act of abuse, contact a personal injury lawyer.