Fourth Victim in Victroy Christian Center Scandal Comes Forward

Fourth Victim in Victory Christian Center Scandal Comes Forward

A fourth victim of alleged sexual abuse at the Tulsa megachurch, Victory Christian Center has come forward. The police said Tuesday that there might be a fifth victim.

Additional charges are now against one suspect Chris Denman, a former church employee. Denman was arrested Sept. 5 on a complaint alleging that he raped a 13-year-old girl in a stairwell on the ministry's campus in August and molested a 15-year-old girl. He now faces new charges of making a lewd proposal to a child and using a computer to commit a sex crime involving a 12-year-old girl.

Another ex-church employee, 23-year-old Israel Castillo, was arrested last week and is charged with making a lewd proposal to a 15-year-old girl and using a computer to commit a sex crime.

Tulsa Police Det. Cpl. Greg Smith told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that a third suspect could face charges related to alleged sexual abuse of a fifth victim. Two things are complicating that case, Smith said, because the victim's parents are uncooperative and the suspect is no longer in Tulsa.

"We're at a stalemate," Smith said. "The third suspect we haven't talked about because all we have to go on now is secondhand information."

On Friday, the mother of the 13-year-old filed a lawsuit against the church, alleging that officials attempted to cover up the incident to do "damage control." The suit filed in Tulsa County District Court is seeking more than $75,000, according to the complaint.

Tim Peterson, a Victory member, said other churches across the country should learn from what's happened here.

"It's a bad situation for the church to be on the front page of the paper every day, but there isn't a church within a 500-mile radius that doesn't know about this now.

"Every youth pastor knows now `If I suspect abuse, I need to report it,' because if you don't report this, you could end up being charged," Peterson said.

Another member, Pam Tiernan, a member of the church for more than 30 years, praised Victory Christian Center for being as transparent as possible regarding the allegations against the former employees.

"That's how you heal," she said. "You don't sweep anything under the rug."

Source: The AP

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Pastor of Victory Christian Center Finally Speaks Out on Church Rape Scandal Cover Up

Sharon Daugherty, Senior Pastor of Victory Christian Center

Pastor of Victory Christian Center Finally Speaks Out on Church Rape Scandal Cover Up

Pastor Sharon Daugherty of Tulsa's Victory Christian Center is finally speaking out about the alleged rape of a 13 year old girl by two of her former church employees accused of the crimes. According to reports, the pastor's staff, which included five in particular, where charged and released last week on failure to report the incident in a timely fashion. The church actually met with the victim and accusers; fired the accusers and waited 2 weeks before reporting it to the police and the parents!

Read UPDATE below or HERE!

The Associated Press reports this statement from senior pastor Sharon Daugherty:

“I want to personally say, that if anybody here is aware of any child being neglected or abused, physically or sexually, that you should please inform the authorities immediately,” Victory Christian Center pastor Sharon Daugherty said Saturday during services, according to the Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/SN2sD4). “Our children are precious, and we owe them our full protection.”

Police have said Daugherty knew about the abuse allegations, but trusted ministry employees to follow in-house policies on reporting such incidents. She has not been charged.

"I was briefly told of an incident involving two ... employees and members of 24/7 (a youth group) ... and was told it was being reported but did not receive any details on the specific allegations," Daugherty said. "I was extremely disappointed to later hear of the delay in the time it was first reported."

Apparently, the Tulsa police say the 13-year-old girl is among at least three victims of alleged sex crimes by two former employees. Her mother filed a lawsuit Friday, alleging that Victory Christian Center officials tried to conceal the reported incident in an effort at “damage control.” The lawsuit, first reported by the Tulsa World, seeks more than $75,000.

We were one of the first to actually state  the obvious cover up when the news first broke. We know many have an issue with going against the church but we are happy the truth is coming out.

Former church employee Chris Denman, 20, was arrested earlier this month for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in a stairwell on Aug. 13. He also is charged with molesting a 15-year-old girl sometime between Aug. 13 and Aug. 17. He has pleaded not guilty and faces an Oct. 11 preliminary hearing. He was appointed a public defender, according to court records, but that office couldn’t be reached Sunday.
Another ex-employee, Israel Shalom Castillo, was arrested Thursday after turning himself in at the Tulsa jail. He is charged with making a lewd proposal to a child and using a computer to commit a sex crime. It wasn’t clear whether Castillo has an attorney.
Five church employees — John Daugherty, Charica Daugherty, Paul Willemstein, Anna George and Harold “Frank” Sullivan — also each face one misdemeanor count of failing to report child abuse and are due to be arraigned Wednesday in Tulsa County District Court.

(AP)

Read update HERE

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Megachurch Victory Christian Center May Have More Victims But Parents Won't Speak Out

(Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Pastor Sharon Daughtery)

Megachurch Victory Christian Center May Have More Victims But Parents Won't Speak Out

The investigation into alleged sexual abuse at Victory Christian Center has revealed more possible victims. There is one problem: Those possible victims are not cooperating with the police in the investigation.

On Tuesday, the Tulsa police stated they could have additional charges against suspects if the victims would come forward.

Sgt. Brandon Wykoff, a detective in the Tulsa Police Department's Child Crisis Unit, said: "We're trying to get these girls in for interviews," Wykoff said. "We're not exactly having cooperation with some of the parents."

Read more at AT2W !

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