Assemblies of God Settles Lawsuit Over Royal Rangers Abuse in Albany, Oregon

The Assemblies of God has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit in Oregon. Had the case gone to trial, it would have been the first to place the Pentecostal denomination before a jury as a defendant in a sexual abuse case, allowing citizens of Portland to decide whether the Assemblies is legally liable for abuse that occurred in its church scouting organization, Royal Rangers, in the 1980s.

According to Gilion Dumas, the attorney representing three men suing the denomination, the Assemblies filed more than a dozen motions to have the case dismissed and three appeals with the state supreme court. The motions were rejected and the appeals dismissed. After a trial date of September 7 was set, the denomination agreed to a settlement. Dumas told CT that the trial court had concluded the plaintiffs’ legal theories of liability were viable, though a jury never tested them. The lawsuits sought damages between $5 million and $42 million, but the settlement amounts are confidential, and Dumas said the figures are protected by nondisclosure agreements. A previous lawsuit was settled in 1990, and another in 2017.

The case also concerns the church’s handling of early warnings. According to the reporting, a pastor at an Assemblies of God church near Corvallis, Oregon, was told in 1984 that Royal Rangers Commander Todd Scott Clark might be molesting boys in the program. Clark was not suspended, and police were not notified. The following year, the source reports, multiple children and parents made additional reports that Clark and a second leader, Ralph Wade Gantt, both in their 20s, were sexually abusing boys during campouts and sleepovers. The church continued to allow those overnight events, and both men spent more time alone with individual Royal Rangers, some as young as 10.

The Assemblies’ national leadership in Springfield, Missouri, does not appear to have known about these allegations or to have been directly involved with the Oregon congregation’s program. Dumas argued, however, that the denomination was responsible for establishing safeguards. Assemblies legal counsel Richard R. Hammar was unavailable to comment, according to church spokesman Mark Forrester. Hammar, cofounder and senior editor of CT’s sister publication Church Law and Tax, authored Reducing the Risk in the early 1990s, one of the first abuse prevention programs for churches. Assemblies leadership recommends its 14-point plan to all congregations. The plan includes points that might have prevented the 1980s abuse, such as a suggestion that adults should not be alone with children, and a strong recommendation that allegations be reported promptly to police. Protecting children from harm is a duty that Dumas said the denomination should have carried out through its oversight of volunteers, as the national organization had the power to set leader requirements (Mark 9:42).

The church heard a third set of allegations in 1986 and finally suspended Clark and Gantt. An internal investigation followed, after which the men were reinstated and allowed continued unsupervised access to the boys. Parents then went to police, and both men were arrested in July 1987. Clark went to trial and was found guilty. Gantt pleaded guilty to five counts of sexually abusing children.

Those criminal cases did not include the plaintiffs now suing. According to court filings, the three men did not know they had been abused until later in life. The filings are described as noting that it is not uncommon for abuse victims to believe they were responsible for their abuse. The men, identified in court records only by their initials, were between the ages of 10 and 17 when the abuse occurred.

Source: Read the original report