TEXAS
NewsWest9
[with video]
By Julia Deng
WINKLER COUNTY, TX (KWES) –
A lawsuit seeking $50 million in damages for “severe psychological pain and mental anguish” was filed Wednesday in Winkler County against an Amarillo church, claiming members kept quiet about molestation involving a former volunteer pastor.
Kermit resident Randy Steven Castillo, 28, was arrested in January 2015, Amarillo Police said, after an adult discovered inappropriate text messages he sent to a minor.
He reportedly met the unidentified girl while volunteering at Trinity Fellowship Church on Hollywood Road in Amarillo, authorities said.
“We sued Trinity Church because we have learned the church had information about ‘Pastor Randy’ asking junior high-aged girls for nude pictures,” said Kevin Glasheen, the anonymous plaintiff’s Lubbock-based attorney. “You could see that in their internal emails.”
Church members who were made aware of the inappropriate correspondence never alerted law enforcement or parents of the children, according to the lawsuit.
Failing to report child abuse is a crime in Texas. However, Castillo’s colleagues and supervisors at Trinity Fellowship Church were not arrested or charged.
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