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	Ex-Minister Denies He Manipulated Teen By William C. Lhotka St. Louis Post-Dispatch October 20, 2007 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/ story/DAABFC319B4DD4A58625737A000D5A26?OpenDocument St. Louis County — A former Lutheran minister testified Friday that he never abused a teenager — emotionally or sexually — when he was an associate pastor at the Church of the Resurrection in south St. Louis County and she was 15. Chris Watson, accused in a civil suit in St. Louis County, denied claims that he touched her improperly and planted ideas that she was unloved by her parents and suicidal. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is named as a defendant along with Watson. The plaintiff, now a college freshman, says Watson manipulated her under the guise of counseling. Her attorney, Susan Carlson, alleged sexual abuse in the suit filed last year. Carlson told the jury Watson had hugged the teen improperly for his own arousal. Watson testified that at Sunday services, he hugged everyone in the parish of 1,500, "including older men. It was a greeting, to say hello, to say welcome, glad you are here." He resigned in 2005 because he was getting a divorce; the Missouri Synod requires resignations in that circumstance. He has since remarried and is a mail carrier. The Missouri Synod insists it bears no liability because each minister is hired, paid and supervised by a local congregation, not the church hierarchy. Carlson told the court Watson had been accused by his former wife of improper actions toward teen girls when he had been an assistant pastor at King of Kings in Chesterfield three years earlier. Under questioning by defense attorney Thomas Magee, witnesses said those allegations involved such issues as letting teens watch a movie rated PG-13 and letting them spend the night in the church without sufficient chaperones. Church officials said they took no action on those claims. And Watson's name remained on a synod list from which Resurrection picked him to serve its church on Sappington Road. The teen testified that she saw Watson daily at the Resurrection parsonage and that their relationship evolved from friendship to father-daughter to an unconsummated love affair. She said she takes medication for a mental illness that she attributes in part to what she considers mind control by Watson. Watson denied manipulating her emotions or turning her against her parents or planting thoughts of suicide, as she has alleged. He said she would stop by "pretty much every day and talk about general life issues, school, grades, band." "I just figured she needed a listening ear," he said. Cell phone records shown to the jury by Magee indicated the teen had called him 126 times and he had responded 15 times. Watson said he used the term "love" in text messages in the same way he would use it in Sunday sermons. He said he had nothing to hide or to be ashamed about. The case in Judge Barbara Wallace's court is expected to go to the jury Monday or Tuesday. William C. Lhotka WLhotka@post-dispatch.com blhotka@post-dispatch.com | 314-615-3283
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