Maryville Apostolic Church did not tell police about girls' sex abuse allegations, women say
MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Two women who say they were sexually abused as girls told Knox News they told the senior pastor of First Apostolic Church in Maryville and his wife about the assaults, and neither of the church leaders contacted police about the allegations as required by Tennessee's mandatory reporting laws.
The women also say the alleged perpetrators, both whom were active in the church, were not publicly disciplined.
The survivors, now adults, said in each of their assaults – which happened years apart – they met in the Rev. Kenneth Carpenter’s office to discuss what happened. After they described the abuse, Carpenter offered to pray for them. Nothing else was done, to the survivors' knowledge.
At the time of the abuse one of the girls was 11. The other was 12.
The church is under scrutiny after a man who is a former worship leader and middle school teacher at the church’s Apostolic Christian Academy was arrested in January and charged with sexual assault by an authority figure. Prosecutors in two counties say Joseph "Kade" Abbott, 26, abused a 14-year-old girl he taught at the academy's School of Music.
Renee Franchi, an attorney from Andreozzi and Foote, a law firm that specializes in sexual abuse cases, is representing the girl’s family in a lawsuit against the church and Abbott, alleging the church should have known about the abuse.
Although our clients cannot comment on the case at this time, the lawsuit involves the childhood sexual abuse recently suffered by our client within this church, school and at the hands of Mr. Abbott,” Franchi said in an emailed statement to Knox News.
The church, through attorney Edward Trent, declined to answer a list of detailed questions about the allegations, saying "First Apostolic Church will not comment on anonymous allegations." Instead, the church distanced itself from the women and put responsibility for reporting the allegations on their families despite the church's legal obligation to report the abuse to authorities.
"Your questions contain allegations from three anonymous women of events alleged to have occurred in (a list of years has been redacted Knox News to protect the identities of the alleged victims), two of which involve serious allegations known to the women’s parents against 18-year-old boys who were not acting on behalf of First Apostolic Church," Trent said. "Yet there are clear insinuations that the church had some legal duty regarding those matters. Any such suggestion is false.”
Since 1965, Tennessee law says everyone is a mandated reporter, meaning anyone with reasonable cause to believe a child is being abused must immediately report it to local law enforcement or the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.
Women say church leaders took no action
Like many girls in the church, Claire was encouraged from an early age to have a boyfriend, so when an 18-year-old senior started showing her attention, it didn’t seen odd to her even though she was only 12.
(Claire is not her real name. Knox News is protecting her identity because she says she was a victim of a sexual assault.)
“He started liking me and in that culture there it doesn't matter your age,” she said. “Like, you know, you like each other and that's how it is.”
He would come to her house, and the two would hang out. They would go out to eat with groups from the church. After a few months, Claire’s parents started trusting him and allowed her to ride with him alone.
Knox News spoke with a woman who was friends with Claire at the time, and she confirmed she knew about the relationship when it was happening. Knox News also saw school yearbook photos of Claire and the senior together at what appears to be a school formal.
One afternoon, Claire told Knox News, the two were out driving and the 18-year-old suggested stopping by his apartment to pick up something. His mom was home, he said.
But his mom wasn’t home. Claire’s heart sank. The two ended up in a bedroom.
“I remember you know, he was, you know, very, very touchy or whatever. And I couldn't … I couldn’t get out of the room,” she said, crying.
“And so, he forced himself on me. And I remember I was thinking this has gone way too far. You know, like what are what are we doing? I just remember I couldn’t get out. And so, he had me pinned on the bed. So, he raped me.
“I was just thinking like, get me out."
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/maryville-apostolic-church-did-not-090110786.html