GENEVA (IL)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
October 28, 2025
By Liz Lykins
A 21-year-old man is suing a prominent suburban Chicago church and its pastor for allegedly allowing an employee or volunteer with a known history of abuse to work with children, resulting in the man’s repeated abuse.
A lawsuit filed last Tuesday by “John Doe” claims that Brian Coffey, the interim lead pastor at Chapelstreet Church (formerly First Baptist Church of Geneva), turned a blind eye to Don Vanthournout’s alleged history of abuse. It says Doe, the child of missionaries, was abused multiple times by Vanthournout, an “employee and/or agent of the church,” between 2011 to 2018, while Doe’s family stayed at his home on furlough.
Doe, now 21, said that Coffey had received evidence from a previous victim of Vanthournout’s history.
“Despite Coffey’s promise to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the children within Chapelstreet, Coffey took no meaningful steps to warn members of the congregation about the dangerous sexual propensities of Vanthournout,” the complaint said.
Instead, Coffey and the church “held him out to the congregation and community as someone who embodied the morals and ideals of the church.”
Chapelstreet is an evangelical, multi-site megachurch in the Chicago suburbs, where Vanthournout worked as a leader of multiple church youth programs.
The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to Chapelstreet for comment and clarification on whether Vanthournout is employed by the church but did not hear back prior to publication.
Vanthournout’s history of alleged assaults
Decades before Vanthournout allegedly abused Doe, he assaulted someone the suit calls “Victim #1.”
In 1984, 14-year-old Victim #1 attended an unnamed Baptist church in St. Charles, Illinois, while Vanthournout served there as a sponsor of the youth group.
Vanthournout, who was then in his 20s, befriended and started to groom Victim #1. Eventually, Vanthournout forced the victim to hug him, hold his hand, and pressed his erection against the victim while the two would “wrestle,” according to the lawsuit.
The abuse escalated when Vanthournout paid for a trip for the two of them to Colorado. While on the trip, Vanthournout allegedly pressured the victim to sleep in the same bed. He then overpowered the teenage victim and touched his genitals.
Victim #1 sought healing for the abuse from the alleged abuser in 2007, the lawsuit stated. By that time, both the victim and Vanthournout attended Chapelstreet, though the victim did his best to avoid him.
The victim then sent a letter to Vanthournout asking for an apology and detailing the pain he experienced during the trip. “You began rubbing my chest and shoulders, and then you rubbed my genitals,” the victim wrote in the letter. “I grabbed your wrist, and then it became a match of strength, and you won.”
Vanthournout reportedly responded in a letter to Victim #1 and admitted to the abuse. “I want to apologize for the things that I did which have caused you so much pain,” Vanthournout wrote, according to the lawsuit. He reportedly offered the victim financial compensation, even though the victim didn’t ask for any.
In 2010, Victim #1 became concerned about Vanthournout’s involvement in Chapelstreet’s youth programs, so he connected with Coffey, who was the lead pastor at the time. (Coffey was the lead pastor until 2016, after which he transitioned to a mentoring role. He was made interim lead pastor in 2024 following misconduct involving then-lead pastor Jeff Frazier.)
The victim met with Coffey to share his story and to show the pastor copies of the letters from Vanthournout. Coffey promised he would bring the issue to the church’s elders, according to the lawsuit.
Later that year, the victim reached out to Coffey again, after he saw Vanthournout quoted in a news article about Chicago youth groups. In the article, Vanthournout talked about how he was someone to whom teens could come with their concerns, including struggles with porn.
Victim #1 emphasized to Coffey again that he felt concerned by Vanthournout’s position overseeing teens. Coffey then informed Victim #1 that Vanthournout was on sabbatical from student ministry and would be asked to resign “quietly.”
But, according to the lawsuit, Vanthournout continued to work with minors at the church.
Seven years of alleged assaults
A year after Victim #1’s conversations with Coffey, Doe and his family visited Chapelstreet while on furlough from missions. They stayed at Vanthournout’s house during the summer of 2011 when Doe was 6.
Then in 2017, Vanthournout asked the family if Doe and his sibling could stay with him for the summer without the parents present. The parents agreed, as the mother had previously known Vanthournout in the 1980s.
During another furlough trip in 2018, Doe and his family stayed with Vanthournout again.
Doe’s family later learned that Vanthournout subjected Doe to repeated sexual abuse during every visit, the lawsuit said. Vanthournout allegedly held Doe’s hand, forced him to sleep in the same bed, and would join Doe in the shower. Vanthournout also allegedly touched Doe’s genitals and penetrated Doe.
Coffey and Chapelstreet were aware of Doe’s every visit to Vanthournout, but “despite this known risk, neither Coffey nor Chapelstreet took any steps to warn Plaintiff or his family of Vanthournout’s history of sexual abuse upon minor children,” the lawsuit said.
Doe is seeking at least $50,000 from Vanthournout, the church, and Coffey. Doe is also demanding accountability for the church for its failure to warn others of Vanthournout’s danger to others.
“As a result of Chapelstreet and Coffey’s actions and inactions, (Doe) suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Vanthournout,” the lawsuit said. “Chapelstreet and Coffey failed to act in a manner that protected children within their congregation.”
*This article has been updated to reflect that the lawsuit does not specify whether Vanthournout was an employee or just leader at Chapelstreet.