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	Campbell County Family Files $40 Million Suit against Former Pastor By Mike McCarthy WVLT September 22, 2008 http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/29503334.html [with video] CAMPBELL COUNTY (WVLT) – A Campbell County family has filed a $40 million lawsuit against their church, ex-pastor, and the Presbytery of East Tennessee for sexual abuse. The lawsuit contains documents that show Malcolm King III, 58 confessed to the presbytery that he "sexually touched a mentally disabled church member." He has since resigned as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church USA of Lafollette. The family said the sexual abuse took place starting in May 2006, while he was providing her with spiritual counseling. Ericka McCarty, 22 suffers from bi-polar disorder and has battled suicidal thoughts. According to the suit, the family turned to the pastor for help, but he took control of Erika's life, from her finances to where she lived. "At first we didn't want to believe it," said Siler McCarty, Ericka's father. "It's a situation that you don't want to happen and that you don't expect would happen to your family." McCarty believes the abuse led to Ericka having a mental breakdown that required hospitalization. The whole time, the then 20 year-old's mentality was that of a young teen. "She was basically 14 years old and the pastor was in a counseling session," said McCarty. "It's just a no, no situation." The lawsuit alleges that King performed "body checks" on Erika that required her to take off all of her clothing. It also alleges that the ex-pastor "sexually touched" her and told her it was "therapeutic." "We tried to keep this quiet and go through the insurance companies," said McCarty, "but we were basically laughed off the phone and they wouldn't talk to us." The lawsuit contains a written confession from King III to the Presbytery of East Tennessee. In it he confessed to engaging in "sexual contact" and "sexual touching" with Ericka. He also called it consensual. King, who resigned from the church this summer, declined to comment on the case. "Hopefully we'll be able to get the word out and no one else will be caught up in this bad situation," said McCarty. A civil suit contains only one side of the story. Officials with the Presbytery of East Tennessee declined an interview, but said they've done all they can under their rules.
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