BishopAccountability.org

Church of the Living God International: Allegations of sexual abuse plague Columbus-based reverend

By Stephanie Metzger, Chris Cantergiani, And Thomas Meyer
WKYC3
February 05, 2018

http://on.wkyc.com/2E5V6i3

Travis

Lloyd

Lloyd Ocampo

Kevin

Kevin Glover

[with video]

Three of White's victims came forward to talk with WKYC, though more are anonymously recalling their experiences of abuse from White online.

WKYC traveled to Georgia to speak with the men, who paint similar tales of abuse and harassment.

Travis Durham says he was about 11 or 12 years old when he first met White. When he turned 13, the dangerous nurturing began.

Durham says White asked him to sing one day. White used that talent to get close to Durham, acting as a mentor. After that, it was the piano, organ and drums.

"He makes you feel important, like you're valued," Durham said. "...He started putting me in the spotlight."

Durham thought White was becoming a father figure to him, since his real father wasn't around. But soon, it became clear that White's actions weren't driven by paternal instinct.

Durham recalls an occasion when he stayed with White prior to the bishop's anniversary celebration. At age 17, Durham arrived a day before the other brothers, so the two were alone.

When Durham prepared to sleep in a separate bedroom, White called him into his own room. He had Durham lay with him in bed to watch TV.

"He brings me over, almost like we're cuddling," Durham recalled. "So I was laying on his chest and he was kissing me on my forehead, rubbing me on my back, we're watching TV and stuff. The whole time, I'm kind of trying to pay attention to the TV but I'm not really paying attention to the TV because I was kind of like, cringing."

Durham said he thought it was just him. He thought it was all in his head, that it was a perfectly normal act that he was making into a big deal. Then White crossed the line.

"All of a sudden while I was watching TV, he said, 'Travis, look.' When I looked, he had pulled out his penis fully erect."

Durham said he didn't know how to react, so he said, "Yes sir," and kept his eyes on the TV. About 10 minutes later, he says White stood up, removed his underwear in the bathroom and crawled back into bed naked.

"I could barely sleep that night because I was shocked about what was going on," Durham said.

Durham was still in high school at the time. Once he graduated, he was supposed to move in with White. But the experience left him shaken and when he tried to tell his mother, she didn't believe him.

"It was kind of like, brushed off and so then I just kept silent," Durham said. "Even though I kept seeing things that made me uncomfortable, I just thought, nobody's going to believe you, no way. Your own mom didn't believe you."

Flashbacks to that moment continued through the years as White continued to favor Durham. But Durham says he dismissed it. It also wasn't the only time Durham experienced abuse by White.

Durham traveled with another brother of the church to Hawaii with White. He recalls a day when the other brother was getting dressed and White made a comment on the size of his penis.

But White remained unscathed.

Durham told his mother, and she still didn't believe him.

"I figured, why even say anything?"

Lloyd Ocampo, now 51, joined CLGI when he was serving with the U.S. Air Force in Germany in 1987. He first met White in 1988 at a youth conference in the U.S.

Even before he became active in the CLGI ministry, Ocampo says he knew something seemed off about White.

"I suspected something was improper, but because my pastor, who was very close with Bishop White, he led us to believe that there was nothing wrong with him and that many people have accused him of having homosexual tendencies, but [he said] don't bother listening to that."

Ocampo says his pastor's endorsement of White led him to brush off any bad feelings he received whenever he saw White do something that appeared off.

The first time things felt personal for Ocampo occurred in Germany, when White made a visit.

"I remember when he was sitting in the pulpit area, he would kind of stare at you in a way where, [I thought] I don't know how to take this. My pastor says there's nothing wrong with this guy, but I'm feeling something different from that."

Ocampo rose through the church rankings from educator to assistant pastor to district superintendent. As he progressed, so did White's actions.

"To me, it turned sexual when he began to hug me longer than he should have, hug me longer than I was comfortable with," Ocampo recalled. He also says White openly watched pornography in front of him.

"It didn't seem like church business but there was a way he would try to make it legitimate," Ocampo explained. "...He would somewhat make it a teaching moment, whatever that teaching moment was, and because we're taught to be spiritual, we kind of look over what a thing is really about because we've been groomed to believe this man is the closest thing to Jesus, so obviously there's a teaching moment in it and obviously there's something spiritual we can garner from this.

"You go in with your guard down and you go in with this expectancy that this man has your best good at heart."

Ocampo lived with White for four years during his 20s. Through those years, Ocampo said he knows what he endured was sexual assault and harassment.

The two shared a closet between their bedrooms and at night, Ocampo said he could see White watching him as he lay in bed.

"He made me feel like I had to live under his desires," Ocampo said. "...There was a degree of fear because I didn't know what he was going to do."

Ocampo also says he knew he wasn't the only victim. He'd heard stories from another young man who was a pianist at White's congregation, but he didn't think he should believe the accusations.

He was groomed to believe White could do no wrong.

Ocampo left the CLGI, but not because of the sexual harassment allegations against White. He left because White desperately tried to keep him with CLGI, and keep him from his wife.

Ocampo says White tried to break up his engagement to his fiancée, claiming White said horrible things about her, to her, and to his family. He even followed Ocampo around in attempt to end the relationship.

"We were engaged in 1996 and the man would follow me everywhere I went to see what I was doing and pretty much tell me I had no business dating this person. He tried to make it seem like, this is really your call here," Ocampo said.

Ocampo believes it was the result of jealousy, calling White's actions similar to those of an angry ex-lover.

Kevin Glover, 50, joined CLGI in 1991 when he was stationed at an Air Force base in Germany.

The first thing he noticed about White was his charisma. He saw White as a mentor and father figure, much like the others.

But when Glover moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, he began to hear whispers of White's alleged wrongdoings when he joined the Living Waters church under Church of the Living God.

"All of the members of that church, we received a letter from a bishop in the organization that spoke about Dr. White's homosexual behavior," Glover said.

He was told to tear up the letter.

Soon after that, White branched off and formed CLGI. Glover says White's followers were told the move was to escape the "narrow-mindedness" of the Church of the Living God leadership.

Glover's first sexual encounter with White happened in 1997 in Ohio, while visiting for White's anniversary celebration.

White invited Glover to stay at his house with other brothers of the church. But he assigned Glover to sleep in his room.

"One of the red flags was, when it was time to go to bed, he got in the bed with no clothes on," Glover recalled.

There was no cot or extra bed for Glover. He slept alongside a naked White, in the same king size bed.

"I thought it was strange, because that's not something that most men would engage in -- getting in another bed without any clothes on. It just was very strange to me," Glover said.

But nothing happened that night. It wasn't until the next morning that Glover woke up and realized White was spooning against him. Glover says his knee-jerk reaction was to elbow White in the chest, causing him to back away. Glover turned to face White.

"I said to myself, if he's going to make any more advances toward me, at least I could see that he's coming toward me and I could thwart him off," Glover said.

It was an uncomfortable moment. So much that Glover didn't say a word. He told no one, and the advances didn't stop there.

Glover recalled a night when he shared a hotel room with White. When Glover climbed into bed, White jumped on top of him "like a man would be on top of a woman."

A third incident mirrors Ocampo's. Glover said White turned pornography on the television when they shared a room. Glover hid in the bathroom until White changed the channel.

"I felt violated. I felt angry," he said. "And I felt there wasn't anyone I could really talk to that would really believe what happened to me."




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