Lawsuits Allege Salvation Army Ignored Warnings About Former Youth Pastor Accused of Abusing Girls in St. Charles, Illinois

Three women, now in their 30s, publicly announced two lawsuits against the Salvation Army in Cook County Circuit Court. Kristy Wynveen, Lindsey Gauthier and Anna Kozak made the announcement, and the suits were filed on a Tuesday, according to one report. Other reports differ on the filing details. One says Wynveen and Gauthier filed separate lawsuits that week, naming The Salvation Army and affiliated organizations. Another says two of the women filed suits that week.

The lawsuits allege that the women were sexually abused as children by Brian Davis, a former Salvation Army youth pastor, at the Tri-City Corps Community Center in St. Charles, a west suburb of Chicago. One report gives the period of abuse as 1996 to 2002. Another says the alleged abuse began after the women started attending the church in the late 1990s, and a third describes the abuse as occurring in the 1990s. According to the lawsuits, the women were as young as 11.

Wynveen said Davis began grooming and sexually abusing her when she was 13. One report says the abuse continued for about two years. Another says it stopped after her father contacted police. The reports agree that the abuse stopped after that contact, though they do not give the same account of its duration.

The lawsuits allege that Salvation Army leaders knew about the abuse and allowed it to continue for years. They further allege that the organization ignored warnings about Davis and concealed the abuse. These are allegations in the lawsuits, and the reports do not describe a court ruling on them. The reports supplied do not include a response from the Salvation Army.

One report says Davis was fired, convicted and sentenced to two months in prison. The other reports do not mention his conviction or sentence, and no report gives the date of his firing or conviction. Those details remain unconfirmed in the supplied material. The women’s claims that children were left unprotected reflect the same concern for the vulnerable that Scripture calls believers to show (Proverbs 31:8-9).