TULSA (OK)
San Francisco Chronicle
JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS, Associated Press
Updated 11:58 a.m., Saturday, November 10, 2012
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The mother of a teenage girl who was sexually assaulted at a south Tulsa megachurch says she believed she was doing the right thing by sending her daughter to a place where she would learn traditional Bible Belt values, but now accuses leaders of the 17,000-member congregation of attempting to manipulate the child.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the 32-year-old single mother of three said she regrets placing a blind faith in Victory Christian Center, with the hope that it could shield her children from the evils of a secular world.
“It was something positive. I was sending them to church; they were going to learn morals and values,” the mother of the 13-year-old said during a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press at her workplace. “And for them to turn around and have this happen, it’s just a huge slap in the face.”
A church janitor, Chris Denman, 20, has pleaded guilty to raping the 13-year-old girl in a church stairwell, bringing to an end only one part of a sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the religious community in August. Five other church workers are accused of failing to report the rape allegation in a timely manner, and another janitor is accused of making a lewd proposal to a child.
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