Thursday, May 16, 2013

Latest Interview About the SGM Child Sex Abuse Class Action Lawsuit

Posted by Christine Pack

[UPDATED: Former Sovereign Grace Ministries youth leader Nathaniel Morales has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, as of 8-14
-14]


As we've documented in earlier articles, Sovereign Grace Ministries is currently embroiled in an ongoing class action lawsuit alleging child sex abuse dating back a number of years. Radio talk show host Janet Mefferd has been diligently reporting on the case by interviewing various attorneys involved in the lawsuit, as well as former Sovereign Grace Ministries leader, now turned whistle-blower, Brent Detwiler. From the latest interview with the attorney for the plaintiffs, Bill O'Neil:
Radio host Janet Mefferd: "Now, you have a lot of details in here, and obviously we can't go through them all, but for example, you talk about one pedophile who was convicted and jailed, and then came back to the church. I mean, to what extent did this sort of stuff happen, where somebody who was a known abuser of children, as you're alleging in this lawsuit, was allowed to be present among children and was not revealed to be a pedophile to people who didn't know any better?" 
Attorney Bill O'Neil: "And that's the real breach of trust that I think is at the heart of why these people came forward.....Someone who had already been convicted of molestation-related charges would be having sleepovers at his house with children where parents didn't know the details of what had happened." 
Mefferd: "Why, why in the world......" 
O'Neil: "The church officials definitely knew." 
Mefferd: "Yeah." 
O'Neil: "......and (the church officials) participated in defending him in the courts." 
Mefferd: "Just out of curiosity, when the sleepovers would occur, were they in conjunction with the children of the couple (at whose house the sleepover was held), or was it just, 'the leader of the church is gonna have a sleepover and a bunch of young kids come to my house'?" 
O'Neil: "(The sleepovers) were not always in conjunction with the couple's children. There were sleepovers at one pedophile's house, who― he didn't have any children."
Other interviews by Janet Mefferd documenting the progress of the SGM class action lawsuit:
10/18/2012 - Janet Mefferd Interviews Attorney Susan Burke About Lawsuit Against Sovereign Grace Ministries ("I don't know how long evangelicalism can ignore this problem.")
5/16/13 - Janet Mefferd Interviews Attorney Bill O’Neil Again About the Sovereign Grace Ministries Lawsuit
  Additional Resources  

Copy of Lawsuit Filed Against Sovereign Grace Ministries

SGM - Updated Statement on Reported Lawsuit


As Appeal Is Announced in Sovereign Grace Case, Joshua Harris Says He Was Abused As A Child

Lawsuit Claims Sovereign Grace Ministries Concealed Sex Abuse

Flagship Churches Prepare To Leave As Lawsuit Charges C.J. Mahaney's Sovereign Grace Ministries With Covering Up Child Sex Abuse

Sovereign Grace Ministries: In Sex Abuse Case, Courts Shouldn't "Second Guess" SGM's Pastoral Counseling

SGM's C.J. Mahaney Gets Support From John Piper