No Charges Will Be Laid in Prairie Bible Institute Sex Abuse Investigation, Rcmp Say
By Stephane Massinon
Police say no charges will be laid against current or former staff at the Prairie Bible Institute after they wrapped up an investigation into claims of sexual abuse made by a former student. Both RCMP and the Three Hills-based Christian college launched their own reviews last year after a former student claimed years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. She also said that 70 alleged victims had come forward to her with stories of sexual abuse suffered there. Three Hills RCMP Sgt. Joe Sangster said Tuesday police recently concluded their investigation and are planning on providing a public update as early as next week. He said no charges have been laid and estimated that approximately 10 people came forward to police. "We investigated every one of those complaints and there's no information or no evidence to support any charges," said Sangster. PBI president Mark Maxwell said the school's own review turned up a half-dozen claims of sexual abuse. In addition, the Centre Street Church in Calgary was brought in as another place for former students to bring forward complaints and they received "some" since January. Most of the allegations date back to the 1980s and 1990s, an era when entire families lived on campus and it offered schooling to children as young as kindergarten. "They were mostly personal, family domestic complaints," said Maxwell. They were not forwarded to police, he said. "The people who were bringing them in specifically asked us not to take them further. We believe them, but they also said don't go further because they would be reinjured," said Maxwell. In November 2011, the school said it was setting up an internal committee to review allegations of sexual assault after former student Linda Fossen wrote a book about her alleged abuse at the hands of her father in the 1960s. After its publication, she said about 70 victims had come forward to her with stories of staff members sexually assaulting them over the years. Maxwell said with the school's long history, there probably were some incidents of sexual abuse. "I'm certain that in 90 years, people were injured. It doesn't seem to be rampant, but it is very probable. We don't want to act like it didn't happen. We just want to say that if and when it did, we want to be part of finding the way through." Fossen filed a criminal complaint last November. No charges will be laid in her case, said Sangster. "It went to review with the Crown and there's no evidence to support any charges," he said. "It's a historical assault 40-some years ago and there's just no evidence to support charges being laid. That doesn't mean that something didn't happen, it's just there's no evidence to support the charges." Her father, who has previously denied the allegation, was interviewed by American authorities as part of the investigation. Reached in Florida, Fossen said the outcome is "unfortunate." She said she has heard from eight to 12 people who came forward to police and she had been waiting for an update about the investigation. Fossen said she was hoping charges would be laid, but if not, that the school would identify perpetrators of sexual abuse and make a point of saying their alleged crimes were wrong. "We realize that a lot of these cases cannot be proved in court. The legal system is never going to try these cases because they're old, there's no evidence, we don't have the DNA, we don't have witnesses." Airdrie pastor Tim Callaway from the Faith Community Baptist Church said he paid close attention to the developments from Prairie Bible Institute because he claims two dozen victims have confided to him about abuse they suffered there. "It's important for people to bear in mind that just because the RCMP says there's no evidence does not mean that nothing happened. I've been talking with sexual abuse victims for 30 years after writing a major research paper on it in seminary," he said. "Suffice it to say that to ask victims to go to the RCMP is a very intimidating thing to do at the best of times." Fossen said what makes the news harder to handle is not getting an update from police to say there would be no charges. "I'm really disappointed with the way the RCMP handled this. Very disappointed," she said. "I think the survivors deserved to be told individually." Contact: smassinon@calgaryherald.com
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