Lawsuit filed to reveal youth pastor training

KHOU
October 28, 2014

http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/2014/10/28/lawsuit-filed-to-reveal-youth-pastor-training/18082523/

HOUSTON -- Chad Foster admitted to soliciting sex online from one young girl and sexually assaulting another. The former youth pastor was convicted of those crimes in 2013 and is serving five years for those sex crimes. Now the family of one of the victims is taking legal action against the church years after the crime.

"We're going to hold them accountable," said attorney Cris Feldman.

Now Feldman, who represents one of the victims, is going after Second Baptist Church and Community of Faith Church. Foster was with one or the other at the time of both crimes. In a civil suit, lawyers claim Second Baptist "placed Foster in a position that allowed him to manipulate children."

"Parents need to be cautious," said Feldman. "This is a sophisticated marketing scheme targeting children."

The suit claims Foster met his victim during lunch at a local Cypress Fairbanks middle school where Second Baptist sent their youth pastors to recruit pre-teens to church. It wasn't long before Foster began texting the 12-year-old. They talked on Facebook, and then he exposed himself via Skype sessions where he asked the girl to "talk dirty" to him and "take off her clothes". Feldman says Second Baptist failed to protect the child.

"What they should be doing is thoroughly training these individuals," said Feldman. "Training them how to interact with 12 year olds when they bring up issues of sexuality."

Attorneys say youth pastors aren't trained or properly vetted. In a press conference Tuesday, they called on Second Baptist to immediately suspend its youth pastor recruitment program in public schools and to identify all schools its youth pastors have visited in the last 10 years.

"When you develop a relationship with children, parents need to be concerned about who that individual is," said Feldman.

Second Baptist tells KHOU it does regular background checks on all employees. And it denies anything inappropriate happened while Foster worked for Second Baptist. In a statement, the church says:

"Our hearts ache for this young lady and her family if she was subjected to the things described in the lawsuit. HOWEVER, this lawsuit alleges Chad Foster engaged in inappropriate conduct with the Plaintiff beginning in 2011. Mr. Foster's employment with Second Baptist ended in 2010. His departure had nothing to do with any sexual conduct or any inappropriate Interactions with young people. If Second had been made aware of any allegations of that type, we would have immediately terminated anyone involved, reported them to law enforcement, and ensured that such conduct did not continue for one minute.

Furthermore, while we cannot be absolutely certain of the Plaintiffs identity because she is named in this lawsuit as 'Jane Doe, ' we believe she is the same person who testified at the sentencing hearing in Mr. Foster's criminal case. In that sworn testimony, she confirmed that Mr. Foster did nothing inappropriate to her while he was working at Second Baptist.

Finally, we understand the Plaintiffs are claiming Second Baptist did not conduct a criminal background check on Mr. Foster when he was hired. That simply is not true.

Second conducted a thorough background check on Mr. Foster before employing him.

We believe Second Baptist Church will be completely exonerated in this lawsuit. In the meantime, we will continue to pray for the Plaintiffs and for Community of Faith. "

"She was re-victimized," said Feldman. "The idea or suggestion that this didn't occur was so traumatic, because it actually implies that she was a liar, a sense of feeling betrayed again by the very institution that was supposed to look out for her."