Wolves Among the Sheep > Agape Boarding School Lawsuits; Baptist Pastor Gets 17 Years for 5 years of CSA

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Two more lawsuits allege physical and sexual abuse

against Agape Boarding School

BY JUDY L. THOMAS AND LAURA BAUER

UPDATED AUGUST 09, 2021 05:29 PM

Kansas City Star

Former students of unlicensed Christian boarding schools in Missouri describe how restraint methods were used as discipline. The schools are allowed to operate with little oversight due to religious exemptions. BY JILL TOYOSHIBA

Two more former students are suing Agape Boarding School, bringing to four the number of lawsuits filed this year alleging abuse at the southwest Missouri facility.

The lawsuits were filed Friday in Cedar County Circuit Court, according to the state’s online database. They accuse the Christian reform school of negligence that resulted in physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

One plaintiff, identified as R.B., attended Agape from spring 2007 through fall 2012, according to the lawsuit.

“While in the custody of Defendant Agape, Plaintiff was physically and emotionally abused by multiple agents, servants, and employees of Defendant Agape,” the suit alleges. He also “was physically, emotionally and sexually abused by his peers who were also in the custody of Defendant Agape,” it says.

Agape officials have not responded to repeated requests from The Star for comment on any of the stories it has published since last fall.

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According to R.B.’s lawsuit, the former student’s memory of the abuse was repressed before he turned 18 and knew that a wrong had occurred. He regained the repressed memories in April, it says.

The suit also alleges that for many years prior to R.B.’s arrival at Agape, there were multiple incidents of physical, emotional and sexual abuse perpetrated against residents by its employees. Those incidents included “acts resulting in criminal sexual abuse charges and convictions, all providing notice to Defendant Agape that its facilities and programs did not provide reasonable protections against such abuses,” the suit says.

Despite that knowledge, the lawsuit alleges, Agape failed to implement safety measures to protect students. Nor did it disclose to R.B.’s parents that “a culture of pervasive physical, emotional, and sexual abuse existed at Agape Boarding School.”

The lawsuit also noted that a previous Agape resident had been the victim of repeated sexual assaults that led to another resident, who then became a staff member, being convicted of multiple charges of felony child molestation.

Agape knew about R.B.’s abuse, the lawsuit alleges, but the incidents were not adequately investigated or reported and nothing was done to protect him from further assaults.

Instead, the lawsuit says, “Agape practiced a pattern of punishment designed to conceal and prevent the reporting of such incidents to the appropriate authorities and to prevent knowledge of such incidents being known by the public.”

R.B., now a Michigan resident, is requesting a jury trial. His attorneys say he suffered damages in excess of $75,000.

“As a direct and proximate result of Defendant Agape’s negligence, Defendant Agape caused or contributed to cause serious, permanent, and progressive injuries, medically diagnosable and significant emotional distress, mental anguish and injury, and damages to Plaintiff for which he has and will continue to need medical and psychiatric care and treatment,” the lawsuit says.

The second lawsuit was filed by J.M., who is now in his 20s. Details on that lawsuit were not immediately available.

Agape — one of four unlicensed boarding schools that has operated in Cedar County — is currently under investigation by state and local authorities for allegations of abuse. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has recommended that charges be filed, but the decision is up to Cedar County prosecuting attorney Ty Gaither. He told The Star last week that he is still reviewing the case.

Two other lawsuits were filed against Agape in February in Cedar County Circuit Court but have since been moved to Vernon County.

One, filed Feb. 22 under the name John Doe II, describes alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse by Agape students and a staff member.

In the other lawsuit, filed Feb. 9, a former student identified as John Doe I alleged that he endured abuse by both students and staff at Agape. The man, who has autism, was a student at the school in 2015 and 2016.

“John Doe I was physically and emotionally abused by several staff members and was physically, emotionally and sexually abused by other residents of Agape,” the suit says.

The plaintiff, now in his early 20s, is a Missouri resident. The action is being brought by his legal guardian, referred to in documents as J.W.

Houston pastor sentenced to 17 years for molesting teen for years

Tuesday, August 10, 2021 10:24AM

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A former Southern Baptist pastor who supported legislation in Texas that would have criminalized abortions was sentenced last Friday to 17 years in prison for child molestation, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Stephen Bratton, 46, had been accused back in 2019 of subjecting a teen to inappropriate touching that escalated to "sexual intercourse multiple times a day or several times a week" from 2013 to 2018, according to Thomas Gilliland, with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Bratton admitted he molested the teen girl for about five years, starting when she was 13.

"Several other pastors came forward to tell authorities what was going on after this man confessed to them, and we applaud those people of conscience,"

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "This man, who had risen to a position of authority in the church, turned a child into a victim and violated his community's trust. The victim and his community deserved, and got, justice."

State District Judge Hazel Jones sentenced Bratton after evidence from a pre-sentence investigation was presented at a hearing.

Bratton had pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 back in February and agreed to let the judge determine his sentence.

According to evidence presented in court, Bratton stepped down from the Grace Family Baptist Church in Cypress Station in May 2019 after confessing to other pastors that he had assaulted the teen for several years.

Brett Batchelor, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, said it is important that victims in cases like this to get justice. "We need to protect the community and protect future victims," Batchelor said. "It's also a big part of the victim's healing process."

Bratton, who is a father of seven, was outspoken in support of a bill that would have abolished abortions in Texas and threatened to punish women who undergo the procedure with the death penalty.

Good grief!