OREGON
The Oregonian
By Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian
The rules at the Apostolic Faith Church in Portland in the 1980s were very strict: Women and girls wore skirts and long-sleeved shirts. No makeup, no jewelry, no TV.
What wasn’t strict, a $5.25 million lawsuit alleges, was the church’s policy about hiring men to work in the church’s daycare center or as assistant pastors.
On Wednesday, a 30-year-old Portland woman known only under the pseudonym “HK” in the lawsuit, said she was sexually abused by daycare worker James Sheals and assistant pastor Walt Smith. The abuse started when she was 4 and ended when she was 8, spanning 1986 through 1990, she said at a news conference.
Attorney Kelly Clark said church officials knew they had a widespread problem with pedophiles operating inside the church, but did nothing about it.
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