Families File Lawsuit against Ex-Pastor, Church in Pella
By Jeff Eckhoff
An ex-Pella pastor found to have sexually exploited four of his former parishioners now is embroiled in a wide-ranging lawsuit with accusations that include assault, damaged reputations and harassment. Patrick Edouard, convicted in October of pressuring women for sex after they allegedly sought his counsel, was sued two months later by two of his former victims and their husbands. The women, sisters-in-law Valerie Bandstra and Anne Bandstra, also target the former leaders of Edouard’s church, whom the women accuse of defaming them by publicly dismissing accusations of rape as mere marital infidelity. “You are not victims,” court papers quote church elder Clarence Hettinga as repeatedly telling the Bandstras. The lawsuit later quotes Hettinga as saying, “Unless he was holding a knife to her throat, it wasn’t rape.” Edouard, who has always insisted the sex was consensual, in his own court papers accuses the Bandstra families of smearing his reputation by harassing his family with prank pizza orders, throwing a brick through his son’s window, and creating a fake posting on Craigslist that listed his house for sale. Plaintiffs’ attorney Roxanne Conlin contends in court documents that Edouard “is libel-proof in that his reputation, as a result of his own actions, was already so poor that plaintiffs’ statements caused no appreciable damage.” Conlin on Tuesday said actions by Edouard and his former bosses “both were horrible and damaging to my clients, but he has been held criminally liable and the church has not been held accountable for the separate and egregious harm they caused.” Defense attorney Angela Campbell said Edouard is intent on defending himself against continued accusations that he raped the women. “We win the jury on the rape and they keep saying it,” Campbell said. “That’s the biggest problem. Rape and a consensual sexual relationship that they shouldn’t have had are two very different things.” The Rev. Doug Barnes, Edouard’s replacement at Pella’s Covenant Reformed Church, said church leaders have been told by lawyers not to address the controversy. “I can’t speak directly to the lawsuit,” Barnes said. “What I can say is that the church was devastated by what happened, and in fact disapproves of everything that was done there. Beyond that, we trust that our God is able to use even the sins of men to bless his church in the end.” Edouard, a once highly regarded pastor in Pella, lost his job in 2011 after a husband discovered Edouard at his home and told church officials. Iowa authorities argued in a trial last August that Edouard had spent much of 2006 through 2010 pursuing religious and vulnerable females in his congregation. Jurors were told that the pastor used a combination of flattery and concern over the women’s personal problems to force himself on them and lure them into consensual affairs. Originally charged with eight crimes, Edouard last fall was acquitted by jurors on three felony rape charges. He was convicted of four misdemeanor violations of a law banning sex between people who provide mental health services and those who seek guidance from them, as well as a separate charge that Edouard engaged in a deceitful scheme involving the women. He is now appealing a five-year prison sentence. The Des Moines Register’s policy is to print the names of sexual abuse victims only when they voluntarily enter public proceedings, such as by filing a lawsuit. Court papers say Valerie Bandstra, a Des Moines attorney facing difficult family planning decisions, was sexually assaulted by Edouard in early 2006 during a meeting in the pastor’s basement. A sexual relationship continued for roughly two more years, according to the lawsuit. It was 2008, documents say, when Edouard “persuaded plaintiff Valerie to open a bank account ... (and) transfer $20,000 from that account to defendant.” Documents say Edouard launched a sexual relationship with Anne Bandstra in May 2008 that continued through December 2010. The lawsuit accuses Edouard of assault, sexual exploitation and breach of fiduciary duty. The pastor, church, church elders — Hettinga, Arnold Van Donselaar, Norman Van Mersbergen and William Hartman — as well as the nationwide governing body of Reformed Churches, are all accused of negligence, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Court papers say Hartman told others during a meeting that “Grooming is a word made up by professionals. In reality, it is temptation. These women fell into temptation, and they sinned.” The lawsuit says Van Donselaar described Edouard in June 2011 as “more repentant than any of the women ever will be.” Documents say the church board sent a letter to the victims and their families one month after the trial that included several statements that “we formally and officially affirm to you that we forgive you ... .” Elizabeth Barnhill, executive director of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said sexual abuse victims frequently cite the fear of not being believed as a main reason they fail to report the crime. Barnhill described Hettinga’s alleged statement about a knife to the throat as evidence of “just a very, very fundamental lack of understanding about what constitutes a rape.” “Unfortunately, that’s very pervasive,” she said. The Bandstras’ lawsuit seeks compensation for “injuries and damages” including “mental and emotional pain and anguish, and past and future medical expenses.” Court papers filed by Campbell, Edouard’s attorney, stress that the former pastor never provided the women counseling and that both Bandstra women “initiated sexual activity with Edouard on numerous occasions.” Edouard also contends that Valerie Bandstra’s marriage already was under pressure in 2010 due to Bandstra’s unrelated affair with another man. The counterclaims accuse Valerie Bandstra of defamation, abusing court procedures and of causing the former pastor “humiliation, embarrassment and severe mental and emotional distress.” Anne Bandstra is accused of slander for filing a false child abuse report against Edouard, while Ryan Bandstra is accused of libel for distributing a flier about the pastor. Edouard’s part of the court case seeks reimbursement for “expenses incurred in defending the criminal charges, damages affecting Edouard’s employment, reputation and livelihood; and exposure to public hatred, contempt and ridicule.” Court documents also say Ryan and Jason Bandstra both “threatened physical harm to Edouard for his relationship with their wives.” Pella police in 2011 initiated 24-hour surveillance of Edouard’s then-home, according to the lawsuit, after Ryan Bandstra began driving by the home multiple times a day and parking across a ravine to look at the house. According to court documents, all four Bandstras allegedly worked to inflict emotional distress on Edouard in early January 2011 by, among other things, strewing nails in the pastor’s driveway, causing the Craigslist posting and arranging for pizza deliveries. The lawsuit claims plaintiffs “caused numerous doorbell rings at the Edouard house to harass them,” caused vulgarities to be painted on the Covenant Reformed Church and “called in false fires to cause the church to evacuate.” No trial date has been set.
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