BRANSON (MO)
Baptist News Global [Jacksonville FL]
June 25, 2024
By Mallory Challis
A new lawsuit filed against Kanakuk Kamps June 24 by child sex abuse survivor Andrew Summersett of Denver seeks to expose how the “largest youth camp in the U.S. intentionally omitted critical information about known cases of child sexual abuse and discouraged a minor from reporting the incidents and pursuing a claim for damages.”
Summersett is represented by attorneys from Laffey Bucci D’Andrea Reich and Ryan, as well as the same Monsees and Mayer legal team representing Logan Yandell of Hendersonville, Tenn., in his lawsuit against Kanakuk.
The now 37-year-old Summersett reports he was sexually abused by Peter “Pete” Newman, who was sentenced to two life terms plus 30 years in prison after a 2010 confession to crimes against children. Summersett says he was abused at his home in Texas by Newman in 2001 amid “Winter Trail,” during which representatives of the Missouri camp would travel to recruit new campers, sometimes staying in former and current camper’s homes. He says he was abused again in 2002 while at K-Kountry, a camp for children ages 6 to 11.
Included in the long list of defendants on Summersett’s lawsuit are ACE American Insurance Co.; Kanakuk Heritage; Joe White and his daughter, Jamie Jo (Braner) Johnson and her ex-husband, Andrew Braner. According to the petition, all defendants “reaped financial gain” because of their described unlawful actions in an amount “to be determined.”
Summersett alleges the defendants “failed to disclose critical facts” to him regarding Newman’s patterns of abuse — which they knew of as early as 1999 — having allowed Newman access to children through his job at Kanakuk for years.
Encouraged to ‘back-off’
When Summersett was 18 in 2009, he disclosed his experiences of abuse to Johnson and Braner and asked if they had any knowledge of Newman’s sexual misconduct with children. They denied knowing anything about the issue.
He says Braner encouraged him not to “make a mess of this,” and instructed him to “back off given the circumstances,” despite knowing Newman had a history of abusing children at camp. Likewise, because Summersett was close to and trusted the couple, he believed their claims and took Braner’s advice.
In recent interviews with survivors, former campers and former counselors, many told BNG they had similar experiences regarding sexual misconduct and abuse, especially surrounding the time of Newman’s exposure and confession. Many claimed talking about abuse at Kanakuk, even abuse that did not occur at Kamp and had nothing to do with the institution, caused them to be shamed, discouraged, pushed out of the Kanakuk community and sometimes disciplined.
Yandell’s lawsuit also alleges ACE American Insurance Co. advised Kanakuk in 2010 against sending a letter to about 8,000 families detailing knowledge of Newman’s sexual misconduct with children. The company allegedly threatened to revoke Kanakuk’s liability insurance coverage if they did so. Summersett alleges this advice ultimately resulted in the concealment of information that otherwise would have led him and other survivors to seek legal action regarding Newman’s crimes against them.
Ultimately, Kanakuk leadership, ACE American Insurance Co. and the listed individuals (who all are or were at some point immediately related to Kanakuk CEO Joe White and held positions of power at the company) failed to acknowledge and disclose known information about Newman’s tendency to sexually abuse children at camp, the suit contends. Not knowing Kanakuk was aware of many instances of abuse at the hands of Newman spanning years, during which Newman was promoted multiple times and recommendations he be fired were ignored, Summersett decided not to seek legal action.
Had he been aware of the extent to which Kanakuk allowed a serial abuser access to children, he would have chosen to pursue a claim for damages, he says.
Kamp Komplicity?
Further than simply having knowledge of Newman’s abuse, Summersett also claims Kanakuk defendants encouraged, allowed and sometimes controlled what the petition calls “extra kamp” and “para kamp” activities with students. This included Newman showing up and staying at campers’ homes, hosting campers at his own residence and taking them on “both domestic and abroad” trips. These were not official camp activities, but were relationships pursued by Newman with campers on his own.
Activities often included nudity, such as nude swimming and nude four-wheeling.
In 2006, Joe White learned Newman was hosting hot tub ministry sessions with campers on a nightly basis. When Newman’s wife raised concerns about this, White did not prohibit the hot tub encounters, but simply asked Newman to “reassess the amount of time he was spending with his family.” These sessions functioned to groom campers behaviorally and theologically, and ultimately were instances of repeated sexual misconduct.
These activities are also listed in Yandell’s lawsuit.
That same year, alarmed parents contacted Kanakuk defendants to report concerns about Newman’s grooming behavior and inappropriate conduct on multiple occasions. In response to a camper who witnessed Newman’s inappropriate conduct with another camper and told her mother, who reported the incident to staff, the camper was told by defendants she “wasn’t athletic or godly enough to be a fit for Kanakuk” then asked not to return.
‘Fraudulent concealment’
Now, Summersett is suing Kanakuk for fraudulent concealment, alleging defendants intentionally omitted information about Newman’s patterns of abuse that would have been pertinent to his ability to decide whether to pursue a claim for damages or not. He claims this intentional omission, as well as advice to “back off” from disclosing his experiences of abuse by camp officials, caused him not to pursue litigation.
Summersett seeks to recover compensatory damages for the fraud he alleges was carried out by Kanakuk and other defendants — the “false and material misrepresentations” and “active concealment of what they knew about Newman and when” — in an amount equal to what he would have collected in a settlement or judgment for the bodily injuries and damages he suffered between 2001 and 2002 when the abuse was taking place.
In a press release, Guy D’Andrea of Laffey Bucci states: “In light of the evidence presented, it is deeply troubling to see that Kanakuk leadership chose to prioritize financial interests over the safety and well-being of the children entrusted to their care. This deliberate suppression of critical information not only hindered Andrew Summersett’s ability to seek justice but also perpetuated a dangerous culture of secrecy, placing countless other families at risk.”
“We are committed to holding all parties accountable and ensuring that such grave misconduct does not go unpunished. It is our sincere hope this case will bring some measure of solace and justice to those affected and serve as a catalyst for change to prevent future harm.”
Attorneys believe there are hundreds of potential survivors of child sexual abuse from Kanakuk Kamps as a result of Newman’s serial abuse and the crimes of other abusers like recently arrested former staffer Matt Harmon.
Related articles:
Child sex abuse survivors from Kanakuk, other organizations unite for statute of limitations reform
Notes from the abused at Kamp Kanakuk: ‘You know what Satan is doing, but you still let him in’
Pedophilia at Kanakuk: Power, lies and evangelical values that cover up abuse
ACE American Insurance Co. denies allegations in Kanakuk’s recent cross claim
As summer approaches, how can parents help their children be safe at summer camp?