CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service
By REBEKAH KEARN
SANTA BARBARA (CN) – A Presbyterian youth pastor who also worked at a hotel sexually abused a teenager at church and in the hotel, and the church covered it up, the girl, now a woman, claims in court.
The woman sued Carpinteria Community Church and its corporate parents, including the Presbytery of Santa Barbara and the Presbyterian Church USA, a Holiday Inn Express, and Louis Bristol, in Santa Barbara Court.
Bristol, then 28, pleaded guilty in August 2013 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, perpetrating lewd acts upon a child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to 1 year in Santa Barbara County jail and 5 years probation, and will have to register as a sex offender during that period, according to local news reports.
The plaintiff’s initial lawsuit, on Feb. 19, was short and somewhat vague. Her attorney Timothy Hale filed a 47-page amended complaint on March 3.
“We were just a bit rushed in getting her lawsuit filed as her statue of limitations was, arguably, about to expire,” Hale, of Nye, Peabody, Stirling, Hale & Miller told Courthouse News. “We had to err on the side of caution and file when we did.”
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