OREGON
Dalles Chronicle
By Neita Cecil
As of Wednesday, June 15, 2016
The mother of a sex abuse victim has sued First Christian Church in The Dalles for $5 million, alleging the church did not adequately supervise the youth leader who abused her teen daughter.
This is the second leader from First Christian to be convicted of sexually abusing church youth in the last three years.
The victim from that earlier criminal case sued the church in 2013 and reached an undisclosed settlement in 2014.
Later in 2014, youth leader Michael Cele Stephens, now 20, began abusing girls he met through youth group at the church, said attorney Peter Janci, whose firm has brought both lawsuits against the church.
The latest suit, filed last Thursday in Wasco County Circuit Court, alleges the church was negligent in failing to investigate warning signs involving Stephens, who was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing six teen girls.
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