By Chris Hoffman
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WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Washington County church is the subject of a civil lawsuit. It accuses the church of not doing enough to prevent an alleged sexual assault of a child with special needs.
According to the attorney representing the family who is suing The Bible Chapel Ministries, they want to make sure that no one goes through the pain and trauma that they went through. The lawsuit filed in the Court of Common Pleas says a 13-year-old with Down syndrome was sexually assaulted while attending a youth group event at the non-denominational church in January.
“It’s even more troubling. It makes the event even more traumatizing and even harder to overcome,” attorney Veronica Hubbard said.
According to the lawsuit, an adult on the autism spectrum who also participated in the special needs ministry assaulted the child. Other children were apparently present and reported it to youth group leaders, who intervened after more than five minutes. The victim’s family wasn’t notified until the child was picked up after the youth group event.
On its website, Bible Chapel said its special needs ministry is to allow people to attend church with no worries and all staff and volunteers are rigorously screened, cleared and trained.
“They trusted the church. They thought that this was a safe space for my client to go to and that wasn’t the case,” Hubbard said.
Court papers said the alleged assault happened while there was no supervision. The perpetrator’s father was to have continuous supervision of him because of past behavior, including another alleged sexual abuse of a youth member on the church playground. The lawsuit alleges no report was made to ChildLine until the victim’s mother and therapist called. Hubbard said her clients fear this could happen again.
“That’s her biggest concern. Making sure the people who didn’t prevent this from happening are held accountable and to make sure this doesn’t happen to vulnerable people in the future,” Hubbard said.
Bible Chapel Ministries provided this statement:
“Earlier this year, a student with special needs engaged in inappropriate behavior with another student with special needs during Student Ministry. Upon noticing the behavior, the students were immediately separated, families were notified, and the matter was reported to Childline/Child Protective Services and local authorities. The student who initiated the behavior was also suspended indefinitely from all youth activities. Authorities have since completed their investigation and affirmed that we responded appropriately.
“We have, and will continue to, handle the incident in a manner consistent with our values, providing our full cooperation and care for all involved. While litigation is underway, we cannot share further details, but we remain committed to God’s Word to serve all involved.”
There is no timeline yet for when the civil trial will take place.
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Family sues church, alleging teen was sexually assaulted at youth group for those with special needs News Channel 3-12.
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