COLUMBIA (SC)
WIS-TV (Channel 10)
October 13, 2017
By Tanita Gaither
A civil suit filed this week in Richland County 5th Judicial Circuit alleges that a 17-year-old was sexually abused over several years by a First Baptist Church of Columbia employee.
In the litigation filed on Oct. 10, a minor referred to as Joel Doe, and his parents, Jane and John Doe, are suing First Baptist Church, the pastor, Wendell Estep, youth assistant mentor and assistant small group leader Andrew McCraw, and church student minister Phillip Turner in a sexual abuse accusation.
The suit claims that McCraw had inappropriate contact and communications with Joel Doe, which included sexually-explicit text messages and social media communications, dinners alone, and sleepovers where no other children or adults were present.
Furthermore, the suit alleges that Estep and Turner knew about the abuse but did nothing about it, failing in their duty to report the abuse.
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