FORT WORTH (TX)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
June 30, 2023
By Rebecca Hopkins
A 76-year-old Bill Gothard reportedly told teenager Emily Anderson that he loved her, put a hand on her thigh, then took her by the hand and escorted her up to his office. All the while, a man was there, working on his computer and witnessing Gothard’s grooming for abuse, Anderson says.
For the first time, Anderson, an alleged victim of Gothard’s sexual abuse, is publicly naming the male witness she described in the hit Amazon docuseries “Happy Shiny People.” The witness is David Waller, brother-in-law to disgraced reality TV star Josh Duggar, Anderson wrote yesterday on her Thriving Forward Facebook page. Waller’s wife, Priscilla Waller, is the sister of Josh Duggar’s wife, Anna Duggar.
Waller also is a pastor at Fairpark Baptist Church, an Independent Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
Anderson hadn’t released Waller’s name for the documentary, which was the “biggest docuseries debut ever” for Amazon Prime Video.
But not only did Waller witness Gothard’s grooming, Waller participated in Gothard’s manipulation to keep Anderson at the headquarters for the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), Anderson alleged.
“Over the span of two weeks, David watched closely as Gothard sexually groomed me (which included being present for late night sessions and inappropriate questioning as to my sexual and romantic relationship history), as Gothard persuaded me to come up to HQ, and then he assisted Gothard in crafting manipulative ways to coerce me into staying at HQ, against me and my mother’s wishes,” Anderson wrote.
Waller later took a position as director of the Advanced Training Institute (ATI), which Gothard founded as a program for homeschooling.
The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to Waller through his church’s phone, contact page, and Facebook account, but received no immediate response.
Gothard had singled Anderson out when she was 13 years old, Anderson said on episode 3 of “Happy Shiny People.” Then when she turned 14, he invited her to come stay at IBLP’s headquarters.
“Bill took one of his female assistants,” Anderson said in the documentary. “He pointed at me and he looked her straight in the eye and he said, ‘Don’t let this one go.’”
Anderson waited until she was 18 to move to IBLP, at which point, Gothard reportedly began counseling her one-on-one, often late at night.
“When Bill talked to me, he made my dad out to be the villain and proceeded to tell me that my father had lost all authority over me, and that Bill was my new authority,” she said in the documentary.
In 2015, Anderson was one of 18 women who sued the IBLP and Gothard in an Illinois civil court for negligence in regards to sexual abuse and sexual harassment. Anderson, called Jane Doe III in the suit, alleged that Gothard would try to separate her from her mother, get her to stop taking her medicine for a medical condition, manipulate her to stay longer at headquarters.
The suit alleges that Gothard would frequently give her affection including whispering in her ear, touching her hair, calling her “angel,” and saying she was beautiful. Anderson alleged she tried several times to report the abuse to ATI and IBLP leaders. The plaintiffs later voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit, citing complexities such as statutes of limitations.
Meanwhile, Waller hasn’t changed, Anderson said in her post.
“If you are wondering if Waller has since changed in the last decade and now chooses to hold abusers accountable, I can personally say I believe he has NOT,” Anderson wrote.
When Josh Duggar, whose family followed IBLP teachings, was sentenced to 12 ½ years in a federal prison for downloading and possessing pornography, Waller wrote a letter to the judge asking for leniency, Anderson wrote in her post.
Waller said that Duggar helped a “struggling and needy widow,” KNWA Fox 24 previously reported.
“I have personally observed Joshua Duggar being a man of integrity and take considerable loss after selling a vehicle to a friend of mine at his cost,” Waller’s letter to the judge stated. “As a pastor who cares about the spiritual condition of people, I urge you to consider how much his wife and seven children need him in their lives . . . and brought back home to provide not just financial, but spiritual guidance of the family.”