Woman Wins Lawsuit against Church and Pastor over Alleged Sexual Abuse As a Child

By Tom Roussey
WJLA
June 21, 2016

http://wjla.com/news/local/woman-wins-lawsuit-against-church-and-pastor-over-alleged-sexual-abuse-as-a-child

[with video]

A woman who says she was the victim of repeated sexual abuse by a pastor when she was 13 and 14 is speaking out to ABC7 -- and now that pastor's church has been ordered to pay $656,000 in damages for pain and suffering.

The alleged victim, who asked us to call her by her first name of Angel, says the sexual abuse happened in 2008. She says "Apostle" Jean Auguste took an interest in her from the time she and her mother joined Abundant Harvest Church, then in Clinton, Maryland when she was 12 years old.

When she was 13, Angel says Auguste invited her and her mother to live with him and his family. Angel says her mother had just left an abusive relationship.

A lawsuit alleges that during a time when all of the adults were out of the house except for Auguste, he entered Angel's room, touched her inappropriately, then pressured her into losing her virginity by having sexual intercourse, telling her she would be cursed by God if she refused him.

The lawsuit alleges the sexual abuse continued during the six months Angel lived in Auguste's home.

"He used to tell me he was casting out demons," Angel told ABC7. "The first time he did it he told me that if I told anybody he was going to curse my family. And I actually did believe him, that's why I never said anything."

The lawsuit says the sexual abuse left Angel suicidal, hating men, questioning her sexuality, and it destroyed her grades in school. It says she eventually broke down and told her mother what allegedly happened.

The lawsuit was filed by Angel's attorney J. Wyndal Gordon in late 2014. The two defendants were Auguste and Abundant Harvest Church. The suit alleges the leadership of the church knew that Auguste was "using his influence and authority to coerce women and under-aged girls to have sex with him."

Last week a judge ruled in favor of Gordon and his client Angel, ordering the church to pay the $656,000. Gordon says Auguste can't be held monetarily liable because he filed for bankruptcy the week before the judge's ruling.

But he says his client has not ruled out pressing criminal charges. Angel says they weren't filed after she initially told her mother what happened because of concern she wasn't emotionally ready to testify.

ABC7 went to an address we were told was where Abundant Harvest Church currently meets in an Upper Marlboro industrial park. After we told a man outside the building why we were there, he went and got another man who did not directly answer our questions and asked us to leave the property. A church service could be heard going on inside.

Gordon says Auguste is still a pastor.

A phone call to the only number we could find connected to Auguste was eventually answered by a recording that did not allow us to leave a message.