Church Facing Lawsuit Woman Says They Were Warned Not to Hire Peter Kim, by Pierrette J. Shields, Longmont Times-Call, January 1, 2008

Church Facing Lawsuit
Woman Says They Were Warned Not to Hire Peter Kim

By Pierrette J. Shields
Longmont Times-Call
January 1, 2008

http://www.timescall.com/News_Story.asp?id=5544

LONGMONT — A local church's failure to do a background check on a man later accused of sexually assaulting a teenage parishioner exposed the girl to abuse at the hands of a mentor, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Boulder District Court.

A woman who claims Peter Kim initiated an increasingly sexual relationship with her while she was a teenager in the youth group he directed at Central Presbyterian Church filed the suit, claiming the church failed to take steps to protect her.

A Boulder County jury in November deadlocked after a weeklong trial in which Kim was charged with sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. Kim is expected to be retried in the case.

Kim is in the Boulder County Jail; to be released, he would need to post four bonds totaling $1 million.

However, he is not named in the civil lawsuit filed by his accuser. She listed the Longmont church, Pastor Glenn Perica, the Presbytery of Plains and Peaks, the Synod of the Rocky Mountains and Presbyterian Church USA.

"I don't have any comment on the lawsuit," Perica said Monday.

He also declined to name any attorneys representing him and the church.

Former church worker says he's had death threats

BOULDER — An attorney for a former Longmont church worker accused of sexual assault on a child told a Boulder District judge on Monday that his client has received death threats at the Boulder County Jail.

Attorney Steven Louth said Peter Kim is being held in "solitary confinement" at the jail, where he's been since Wednesday, for his safety and asked the judge to reduce Kim's bonds so he can post the money and go home.

Instead, Boulder District Judge Roxanne Bailin today set two new $250,000 bonds on previous bond violations. The $500,000 joins two other bond violation-related bonds that Boulder District Judge John Stavely set on Friday for $250,000 each, bringing Kim's total bond amount to $1 million.

Peter Kim, the former director of youth ministries for Central Presbyterian Church in Longmont, is accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenager who attended the church and participated in his programs.

Prosecutors believe Kim has repeatedly violated a bond condition that he stay away from anyone younger than 18, resulting in multiple bond revocations and the new $1 million price tag on his freedom.

If he does put up the money to be released from the jail, he will have to submit to GPS tracking and other bond conditions.
-Pierrette J. Shields

Kim worked at the church from 2000 until March 2003, when he was convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense in Denver and required to register as a sex offender.

The lawsuit claims the church would have uncovered red flags in his employment history with Presbyterian churches elsewhere in Colorado, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois.

"Had a background investigation been conducted, Central would have discovered Kim's past inappropriate boundaries and conduct at each of these churches, including sexual grooming, sexual assault and other inappropriate contact with youth parishioners, and befriending and gaining the trust of victims' families," the lawsuit claims.

According to the lawsuit, a background check also would have turned up mishandling of church funds, dishonesty and "several referrals to departments of human services for inappropriate touching of youth."

The suit also claims that:

• Perica was warned not to hire Kim;

• a church committee received and forwarded to Perica in November 2001 a complaint about Kim inappropriately touching a child;

• Perica in December 2001 received an e-mail about Kim's defensiveness to "attempts to training and imposing appropriate guidelines of his behavior";

• Kim resisted the establishment of an abuse prevention policy and "expressed that in working with youth there should be no boundaries"; and

• Kim treated his accuser with favor compared to the other kids and church officials failed to correct the behaviors.

Among other claims, the lawsuit alleges that Perica and the church were negligent in hiring and supervising Kim and all of the defendants failed to train Kim and retained him despite allegations and his behavior.

The lawsuit requests that a jury hear the case and asks for unspecified damages.