Former Volunteer Bible Teacher at Colorado Springs, Colorado, Adventist Church Pleads Guilty in Child Sexual Assault Case

A man who served as a volunteer Bible study teacher at Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in Colorado Springs pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting one child, according to The Gazette. Carlton Ranquist, 63, is accused of using his position to gain the trust of parents and abusing boys and girls as young as 8 years old.

Under a plea agreement, Ranquist admitted guilt to one charge, and eight other charges he faced will be dismissed. He is scheduled to be sentenced in April and faces a possible sentence of life in prison. He admitted engaging in sexual conduct with a girl younger than 15 over several months in 2017, though the source reports that his alleged crimes began in 2006.

Police opened their investigation in 2021 after responding to a sexual assault call involving a 15-year-old girl. Ranquist moved to Maine, where he was arrested in April 2022, and was extradited to Colorado Springs for trial. Investigators later found additional victims, and the source describes a long pattern of alleged abuse dating back 15 years. Ranquist had served as a volunteer Bible study teacher at the church since 2013. The church has 573 members.

An affidavit filed in 2022 described the alleged abuse of the 15-year-old girl, in which she was allegedly made to expose her body while Ranquist took nude photographs of her. The affidavit is a court filing, and its contents are allegations. According to the source, between 2008 and 2010 Ranquist allegedly abused a boy who was 8 years old when the abuse began. The boy said he met Ranquist at church, where the man quickly became a mentor, and that he was taken to the man’s apartment, where he was allegedly forced to perform sex acts while being filmed.

Another girl said she was abused from 2015 to 2017. She alleged that Ranquist watched child pornography with her before demanding that she perform sex acts on him as often as five to eight times a month, and that some of the abuse was photographed or filmed. She also said he offered her food, money and car rides. The source reports that Ranquist told his young victims he had engaged in similar acts with other children and teens.

The church does not address the case on its website. A page titled “A Safe Church” states, “The abuse scandals rocking the church are tragic and unnerving.” It adds, “At Central we recognize the urgent need to assure everyone who visits our church for just one time or makes it their home that Central is a secure place, a safe church.” Protecting children who enter a congregation’s care is a duty the church’s own page treats as urgent (Psalm 82:3).

Dumas & Vaughn, an Oregon law firm that has represented abuse victims in lawsuits against Adventist churches, told the source that the denomination has “a long and disappointing history of child sex abuse.” The firm said Adventist Risk Management, the denomination’s insurance company, has handled claims from more than 500 child sex abuse victims in the United States, but that the church has not publicly disclosed information about these cases. The firm also said abuse has occurred “in SDA churches, schools, camps, and programs for teens and children, like Adventurers.” A separate law firm that works on Adventist abuse cases said the denomination has quietly settled hundreds of abuse cases but has been lax on protecting children. These are the firms’ assertions and have not been confirmed by the church.

Ranquist is being held at the El Paso County Jail on a $25,000 bond while he awaits his April 11 sentencing hearing. Anyone with information or who believes they were a victim of Ranquist is asked to call the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719-444-7000.

Source: Read the original report