'It's a cesspool of sex': Women sue director of megachurch-affiliated rehab ..., by Joshua Gardner, Daily Mail (UK) (May 12, 2014)

'It's a cesspool of sex': Women sue director of megachurch-affiliated rehab on claims he routinely groped, harassed and even laid on top of them as they slept

Six women filed suit against San Diego's The Rock Church on Thursday, saying they were sexually harassed at a drug and alcohol recovery program associated with the megachurch.

The lawsuit says the Rock offered counseling and housing to women in a program led by David Powers, who is accused of repeatedly fondling residents and making lewd sexual advances and laying atop at least one of the recovering drug addicts as she slept.

‘They’ve gone there to seek healing and what they get is a sex fest,’ attorney Irwin Zalkin, who’s helping represent the women, told NBC San Diego. ‘I mean, that’s really what this place is -- it’s a cesspool of sex.’

‘I literally just ran out of the golf cart. I didn’t know what he was talking about,’ the Ohio native told BuzzFeed.

Peyton alleges that the harassment escalated until Powers began to come into her room, lay on her sleeping body, and grope her breasts and buttocks.

She claims she finally parted ways with the rehab center and its leader when Powers 'penetrated her with his fingers, then put her hand on his penis and asked her to stimulate him,' according to BuzzFeed.

If the accusations of Peyton and her five fellow plaintiffs are to be believed, Powers has a years-long history of this type of behavior.

‘As soon as I arrived, David began making inappropriate comments to me. Soon enough, he was slapping my butt and walking into the room when I was naked,’ Jaycee Peacock, who entered Soledad House in July 2012, told NBC San Diego.

‘David made disgusting sexual comments and found a way to touch me every single day that I was there,’ Peacock said.

Peacock and Peyton are joined in their suit by former patients Hannah Paul, Jane Roe and Mary Catherin Grayson as well as a former employee of Powers' Andria Donovan.

David Powers denied the allegations in a length statement that says, in part:

‘At the end of January 2014 a female resident with mental health issues alleged that while she lived in a facility other than ours that one of our principals imposed himself on her in a sexual manner. We categorically deny this allegation.

‘We take things of this nature very seriously and we have always had a zero tolerance for this type of behavior. We have been helping people get sober for 17 years and this is the first time a rumor of this kind has ever come up.’

It’s possible the resident the statement refers to is plaintiff Jane Roe, who claims that in September 2011 she awoke to find Powers’ employee Fred Murray groping her thighs and calves.

Roe claims that when she alerted Tina Powers of the issue, she threatened to expel Roe from the program.

Court documents also allege that Tina and David Powers would have sex with their bedroom door open while hosting women in their home.

The Rock Church said the accusations are troubling but that none of the alleged behavior occurred on its property or by anyone under its authority. The church said it stopped referring women to Powers' ABC Sober Living after learning of the allegations Monday.

The Rock was formed in 2000 and says about 12,000 people attend its Sunday services. It is led by founder Miles McPherson, a former defensive back for the San Diego Chargers, who is not named as a defendant.

The lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court names Rock Church Ministries, ABC Sober Living and David and Tina Powers as defendants. It says the church's "Rock Recovery Ministry" featured Powers' residential treatment programs.

An October 2009 video posted to YouTube by the church names David and Tina Powers ‘Rock Heroes’ for that month ‘for their outstanding dedication, sacrificial service, and faithful evangelism.’

San Diego police conducted an investigation involving Powers and a woman and decided against pursuing criminal charges, said Lt. Mike Holden, who declined to name the woman.