CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara Independent

Sunday, March 8, 2015
by TYLER HAYDEN

The Carpinteria Community Church routinely ignored and covered up reports of sexual abuse committed by one of its youth ministers, a lawsuit filed Tuesday claims.

The lawsuit also alleges that the church’s corporate parents, including the Presbytery of Santa Barbara and Presbyterian Church USA, harbored another sexual predator who molested multiple victims over the course of 30 years as he was transferred to different parishes in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and around the country.

“The Presbyterian Church has always held itself as different from the Catholic Church,” said attorney Tim Hale about how the two institutions treat offenders within their ranks. “They say the right things, but this is a classic case of actions speaking louder than words.”

Hale is representing a single plaintiff in the civil complaint, a former member of the Carpinteria Community Church who says…