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	Women Testify against Pastor A Leader of a Church Community Is Accused of Pressuring Them into Sex When They Were Minors By Kevin Murphy The Kansas City Star October 3, 2006 http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15664202.htm Pineville, Mo. — Two women on Monday accused the pastor of a southwest Missouri church community of pressuring them into sex for their spiritual fulfillment when they were minors. The women testified at a preliminary hearing for Raymond Lambert, 51, pastor of the Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church near Powell, Mo. Lambert faces eight counts of sexual abuse, molestation and sodomy. Charges also are pending against his wife, Patty Lambert, 49, and two church deacons, Paul and Tom Epling, who are Patty Lambert's brothers. All defendants have denied the charges. Circuit Judge Greg Stremel delayed a decision Monday on whether to bind the Lamberts over for trial. A hearing on the case against the Eplings was postponed after prosecutors reduced charges late last week. The Lamberts and Eplings lived on a 100-acre homestead that included numerous houses, a church and a school where families taught their own children. About 100 people, most of them related, lived on the site that was established 30 years ago. The close-knit group unraveled last spring when eight residents left after some of them alleged they had been sexually abused as girls by church elders. In charges filed in August, McDonald County prosecutors said the sex was part of a "religious ritual or ceremony" in which sexual submission was portrayed as honoring God. In a nearly full courtroom Monday, a 28-year-old woman said Raymond Lambert pressured her when she was 16 to remove her clothes, to let him lay with her and eventually to give him oral sex. She said the events happened at houses on the property. "He explained I was giving my body as a service to God," the woman said tearfully. "I thought he was my minister; I trusted him with my soul. He took advantage of that." Under cross-examination, the woman said she didn't tell because he told her not to. Another woman, now 19, said Lambert made sexual advances beginning when she was 12. She said Lambert persuaded her several times to remove her clothing, telling her that she could give her body to him and to God without shame. She said she once gave him oral sex while a female relative of his watched. The woman testified that Patty Lambert advised her to submit to Raymond Lambert and assured the woman he would never hurt her. Patty Lambert is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and child molestation. Both women were identified in court, but The Kansas City Star generally does not publish the names of alleged sexual assault victims. Two other women accused Paul Epling, 53, and Tom Epling, 51, of sexual abuse. Assistant Prosecutor Dan Bagley filed amended charges against the brothers Friday after their attorney argued in a court filing that the brothers faced improper charges because of statute of limitations issues. Some crimes allegedly occurred as far back as 1976. Tom Epling had faced five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, but those charges were replaced Friday with two counts of felony sodomy. Paul Epling had faced two counts of first-degree statutory rape and five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy. He now faces one count of felony rape and two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy.
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