Lawsuit: Church's 'Blind Eye' Led To Boy's Assault
WARREN (AP) - A lawsuit claims officials at a suburban Detroit church should have stopped a former pastor from influencing a 15-year-old boy he later sexually assaulted.
The civil suit filed against the Antioch Baptist Church and Academy in Warren also claims Christopher Settlemoir shouldn't have been hired because officials knew about his pedophilic tendencies.
Settlemoir last year pleaded no contest to charges he sexually assaulted the boy and accosted another. The 29-year-old former Warren resident is serving a seven- to 15-year prison term.
The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens says the suit filed Friday by "John Doe" in Macomb County Circuit Court claims a minor child was assaulted "dozens of times" while staff turned a "blind eye" to the crime.
Senior Pastor Doug Brandenburg declined to comment about the lawsuit.
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