Seventh-Day Adventist Church With Roots In Md. Sued For Child Abuse
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Two 50-year-old men allege the Seventh-Day Adventist Church put a man known to abuse children in charge of its youth program in the 1970s and kept him in that position, even after learning he was accused of abusing a child in the program.
The men filed suit in Oregon on Tuesday, seeking $15 million from the Maryland-based church and its Oregon branch, alleging sexual battery, inflicting emotional distress, fraud and negligence.
The men say they were abused in the 1970s but only discovered in 2012 that the church knew it had a convicted child molester in its ranks and did nothing.
The lawsuit contains photocopies of several indictments and convictions of the former youth program leader, who is not being named by The Associated Press because he is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
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