Published by February 11, 2019 – The report also found that dozens of the church members who were accused of sex crimes over the 2-plus decades looked at by the investigators were later allowed to return to their church in some capacity. The 380-some allegations leveled against the clergy involved approximately 700 victims, the investigation found, some of whom were as young as 3-years-old when their crimes took place.
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What’s the problem?
The accused represented an array of the Baptist Church’s upper echelon (i.e. pastors and ministers), but also members at the other end of the flock, such as Sunday School workers and unpaid church volunteers, according to the report.
About 220 have thus far been convicted or taken plea deals to avoid prison, and dozens of lawsuits are still pending, the investigators said. Nearly 100 are still behind bars.
More than 100 of the accused are registered sex offenders, and some have returned to the pulpit. At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches, the investigation found.
Due to the tendency by each Baptist Church to operate as its own individual entity, any attempt to pass a binding protocol regarding allegations of sexual abuse that all Baptist churches would follow would be considered a long shot at best. Instead, the committee put together a report that lead investigator August Boto claims “accepted the existence of the problem rather than attempting to define its magnitude.”
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