Judge Refuses to Drop Charges in Oklahoma Failure to Report Case

One of my big pet peeves is pastors or church leaders who fail to report cases of suspected abuse to civil authorities.  I found an update on a case mentioned earlier in this post:  

Mandatory Reporting Laws for Clergy: Loopholes for Abuse

Here is the new update:

Okla. Judge Refuses to Drop Child Abuse Charges Against Victory Christian Center

Two youth pastors from the Victory Christian Center megachurch in Tulsa, Okla., failed in their attempt to convince a district judge to drop the charges against them, after they were accused of failing to notify police in a timely manner of child abuse that happened on church property.

John and Charica Daugherty, the son and daughter-in-law of Victory Christian Center senior pastor Sharon Daugherty, appeared in court on Monday, where Assistant District Attorney Kali Strain explained that Special Judge Sarah Smith denied the defense's motion to dismiss the charges.

The Daughertys are among five employees charged with taking over two weeks to report the rape of a 13-year-old girl in August, which occurred inside a building owned by the church. The youth pastors have defended themselves by saying that they reported the crime to Human Services, and are not responsible for the fact that police did not get the details until two weeks later.

The District Court has insisted, however, that state laws are clear and that the pastors knew they should have acted sooner, but didn't. This means that they are due back in court on Dec. 12, along with the three other church employees who also failed to report the crime on time. Tulsa World reports that the other defendants in the case include Victory Christian Center staff members Paul Howard Willemstein, the associate youth pastor; Anna Alisa George, the high school outreach program director; and Harold Frank Sullivan, the former human resources director.

Jason Robertson, the Daughertys' attorney, told the San Francisco Chronicle that although they hoped Judge Smith would have consider granting the dismissal, her decision is not entirely surprising.

"Motions to dismiss are rarely granted in a criminal case," Robertson said.

I hope my former pastor is reading this as well as any other pastors or church leaders who think they might want to use loopholes to fail to report crimes.  This is not good news for people involved in the SGM lawsuit.  People do not look kindly on this practice anymore. It's time to care for and defend victims of abuse appropriately.    Amen.