KENTUCKY
Portsmouth Daily Times
By Frank Lewis – flewis@civitasmedia.com
A Lewis County, Kentucky church has been sued by a male teen for child sexual assault. According to attorney Bruce MacDonald of the McBrayer McGinnis Leslie & Kirkland, law firm, their client, known for the record as “John Doe,” is suing Vanceburg Christian Church where a former pastor, Duncan D. Akers, Jr., 65, pleaded guilty and was convicted of criminal charges for sexually abusing the plaintiff, “John Doe.”
Akers pleaded guilty to five counts of first degree sexual abuse as part of a plea agreement. Several other charges were dropped as a part of the plea deal.
“John Doe is having a lot of problems,” MacDonald told the Daily Times. “He is not able to function well in society, and hence, is unemployed and he needs counseling and he needs medical help, and we hope to be able to obtain those things for him, and allow him to finish his education, perhaps go to vocational school and hopefully become a production citizen and right now he’s not. He’s having a lot of problems. Therefore, we want to get him some financial assistance so he can get a vehicle and get stabilized in life.”
The lawsuit explains that the plaintiff met Akers when the Plaintiff was a young “latch-key” child who lived near the church and was invited by Pastor Aker to come to the Church. The Plaintiff then began going to the church regularly after school and on the weekends, according to the complaint. The complaint goes on to say Aker used those opportunities to “groom” the plaintiff and make him susceptible to the sexual abuse. According to the lawsuit, “between late 2007 and early 2010 . . when the plaintiff was 9-12 years old and Akers was 56-59 years old, Akers brutally and repeatedly sexually molested and raped the plaintiff at the Church as well as at locations off the site where Akers would take plaintiff.” The lawsuit says that Akers threatened the plaintiff not to tell anyone and used his position in the church to intimidate the plaintiff.
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