Woman Molested as a Teen is Seeking $75,000 in Damages from Church She Says Failed to Protect Her
A woman is seeking $75,000 in damages from a Pennsylvania church she says should have known its former pastor was preying on minors.
The woman, who currently lives out of state, said in the complaint filed last week in U.S. Middle District Court that Cedar Crest Independent Baptist Church of Mount Union knew the Rev. Jeffrey Winstead was molesting her and other girls yet took “no meaningful action,” Penn Live reported.
Winstead, whom police said admitted to abusing the woman as a teen, is currently serving 8 to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2014 to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and unlawful contact with a minor.
The new suit, filed by the Andreozzi and Foote law firm of Harrisburg, which specializes in sexual abuse cases, claims some of the misconduct occurred in the church, as well as at an affiliated school and parsonage, and a camp.
It contends that Cedar Crest Baptist church officials were negligent in child abuse prevention, employment screening, and in their lax supervision of Winstead despite “red flags” that abuse was occurring.
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