Warren Ex-Pastor's Rape Victim Sues School, Church, Officials

By Jameson Cook
Daily Tribune
October 23, 2012

http://www.dailytribune.com/article/20121022/NEWS01/121029896/warren-ex-pastor-s-rape-victim-sues-school-church-officials-

Officials of a Warren church and religious school should have stopped obvious "grooming" of a teenage boy whom the church's pastor later raped. A lawsuit also claims the pastor never should have been hired because the church knew about his pedophilic tendencies, a lawsuit alleges.

In a civil action replete with disturbing accusations, the unidentified boy says employees and officials of Antioch Baptist Church and Academy failed mightily to detect and prevent the actions of convicted rapist Christopher Settlemoir.

"The rape of a minor child occurred dozens of times while the staff turned to the blind eye crime (sic) being perpetrated against a child within their care," says the lawsuit filed Friday by "John Doe" in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. "(Antioch) had a duty to self-report to Child Protective Services and/or law enforcement that plaintiff… was at risk of and actually was being sexually abused."

Settlemoir in 2011 pleaded no contest each to two counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and accosting a child for immoral purposes for assaults that police said lasted more than a year ending in June 2010. He also was accused of sending explicit text messages to a second boy.

The 29-year-old former Warren resident, who was married and had an infant daughter, is serving a seven- to 15-year prison term.

The lawsuit alleges that officials should have been aware of Settlemoir grooming the teen, who was being raised by a single mother whose father "was not an active part of his life." Settlemoir "vetted, targeted, identified, befriended and then molested" the victim, the lawsuit says.

The 15-year-old victim's mother went to the Warren police on June 9, 2010, showing them incriminating text messages.

Contact: jamie.cook@macombdaily.com