Church charged with harboring sexual molesters and covering up the abuse

Carol Forsloff - A pastor was found guilty of child
molestation and the church covered it up according to a lawsuit recently
filed in Placer County Court in California.

police photo, Jeffrey Waisner












The family of a 14-year-old girl
charges Jeffrey Waisner of sexually abusing the girl on a regular basis
and that the church knew of it and didn't do anything about it.



Waisner, a youth pastor at his
church, Rocklin Four Square Church also known as Crossroads Community
Church and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, was
sentenced in April to three years in prison for the sexual abuse
according to news reports in the local area.
Placer County Superior Court Judge Robert P. McElhany at the time of
sentencing ordered Jeffrey Allen Waisner, 33, to also be registered as a
sex offender for life.  Two months before sentencing Waisner had
entered a no contest plea to the charge of lewd and lascivious acts with
a minor.

At the time of
sentencing the mother of the girl said Waisner convinced the girl that
he loved her and said he would leave his wife and children for her. 

“This sick perpetrator not only stole my daughter’s innocence, her
trust and her faith in God, he has caused her emotional damage that will
scar her for a lifetime,” the mother said.



A  newspaper report of the mother's responses at the time also said the mother claimed her daughter was forced to leave school, then go live with an aunt in another area of the state, and is suffering significant emotional struggles.

The lawsuit
charges the church harbors pedophiles.  It maintains Waisner engaged in
sexual intercourse and oral sex with the girl, who is now 15 years
old.  The family further charges this occurred on a regular basis at the
pastor's home and on trips.

Church
leaders "would continue to sexually molest children, using their
leadership positions to gain access to and control over their victims,"
the lawsuit additionally charges.

The
church had often said its youth meetings were "a safe place for your
teens" despite the fact it had a "problem with sexual abuse of minors by
appointed leaders."  The accusation is also it "acted to continue to
appoint these sexual offenders to positions of authority with the
opportunity to abuse children," the family asserts in its request for
proper address.

But
this is not the worst of it, according to the family of the girl
allegedly abused. The church also used its authority to "rather than
implement measures to redress and prevent the sexual molestation of
these children" instead it "engaged in a systematic pattern and practice
of suppression of information to cover up and hide incidents of child
molestation from law enforcement. " 

The
lawsuit further says there was an organized attempt to protect the
reputation of the defendants who had been involved in sexual
molestation. and that there are archival records maintained by the
church of their activities.
   
"Known
molesting leaders were reaffirmed as leaders in good standing in the
organization and were given authority that permitted continued frequent
and unsupervised access to children in the organization," the complaint
further asserts.

The church is also accused of telling the victims not to report the sexual molestation through severe threats.

The
victim's family seeks redress for medical care, lost earnings, sexual
abuse of a child, sexual batter, gross negligence and breach of
fiduciary.  

In
the present lawsuit the family accuses the church itself of wrongdoing
in harboring the sexual molester and covering it up as well as part of
systematic planning.
 
There are a number of churches
in the area around Rocklin.  Foursquare is listed among them.  The
Foursquare organization is the parent group for a large following of
Pentecostal worshipers founded by the famous Aimee Semple McPherson.  The organization reports more than 8 million members.

The only church listed as a member of this organization is Rocklin Foursquare Church. 

An
allegation is an accusation of wrongdoing.  A lawsuit formally charges
an individual or group, but an allegation itself is not the

determination, which is made by law and through the courts nor is a newspaper report of an allegation be assumed as a claim of guilt.