Ohio pastor Israel Ford, convicted in 2020 of striking a stepdaughter with a belt, now accused of sexual abuse by another stepdaughter

Ohio pastor Israel Ford, founder of LifeWorks Church in the Cleveland area, is now facing allegations of sexual abuse from a stepdaughter, following an earlier conviction for domestic violence. Ford, who has been described as a bigamist, drew national attention after a recent announcement about his second wife. The Roys Report previously reported that Ford posted an Oct. 25 video announcing a second wife, Shakayla Talley Ford. Lydia Ford introduced Shakayla to the congregation, which gave the trio a standing ovation, and Ford described the teaching that a man should have only one wife as “unbiblical.”

Ford was convicted in 2020 for striking a teenage stepdaughter with a belt. On Oct. 27, another stepdaughter, Kourtney Jones, came forward with allegations of years of sexual abuse. In a Facebook post, Jones, who identifies Ford as her stepfather, said he sexually abused her during childhood and attempted to rape her when she was 15.

Jones wrote that her mother, Lydia Ford, married Ford in June 2013, when Jones and her twin sister were 11. She alleged that Ford began showing sexual interest in her when she was 12, and that his behavior escalated when she was 13, when she said he entered her bedroom at night wearing only underwear and questioned her about sex. Jones alleged the attempted rape came after Ford persuaded her mother and sister to stay overnight at a hospital with her grandmother. She said she fought him and escaped. She also alleged that he isolated the family from relatives and friends and touched her when others were not looking, including at church. Jones said the abuse continued until she left home at 17. She said she later told her sister, but her mother believed Ford’s account that Jones had been attracted to him, and she wrote that she had not spoken to her mother in six years.

Lydia Ford, Jones’ mother and Ford’s first wife, denied the allegations during an Oct. 30 livestream, according to ChurchLeaders, which reported on Nov. 2. “We know that they’re serious. We know how damaging they can be. And I need y’all to know that they are not true,” Lydia Ford said, according to the website.

Jones’ accusations seem to parallel a court case involving Ford’s other stepdaughter, identified in court documents as K.C., who was 17 during a Jan. 15, 2018, incident. The ruling concerns physical violence and does not adjudicate Jones’ sexual abuse allegations. According to the court’s account, K.C. testified that her mother had struck her with a belt over content on her Snapchat account, and that she then told her mother Ford had been exchanging text messages with a former wife, angering him. She also testified that Ford grabbed her arm, pushed her to the floor, and held her down with his knee on her neck after she refused another beating. The court’s account says she picked up a kitchen knife but put it down. Her police statement described Ford slamming her into a kitchen wall and throwing her around the living room before beating her with a belt.

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