OREGON
Oregonian
By Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive
A woman who says her daughter told leaders of a McMinnville church that her father was sexually abusing her has filed a $5.2 million lawsuit, faulting church leaders for keeping quiet.
The girl, starting at age 6 or 7, confided in various church leaders over the course of nearly two years, but they didn’t report the alleged abuse to police or child protection workers as required under Oregon’s mandatory reporting law, according to the suit.
The leaders — including teachers and clergy — also didn’t say anything to the girl’s mother for nearly two years — and the girl ultimately ended up contracting herpes from her biological father, the lawsuit claims.
Leaders of the Church on the Hill — also known as McMinnville Church of the Nazarene — mistakenly thought at first that the girl was accusing her stepfather and didn’t believe her, Portland attorney Randall Vogt said in a statement of facts he wrote about the case. The stepfather worked for the church and was well-liked, said Vogt, who represents the girl’s mother.
“They essentially said, ‘He’s a good guy. He wouldn’t do something like that,'” Vogt said.
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