Ralph Douglas West II.
Posted on 10/15/2023 9:08:29 PM PDT by Morgana
A Texas pastor has been ordered to pay a woman her met online $2.45million after he gave her herpes.
Ralph Douglas West II, the assistant pastor at Houston's The Church Without Walls, was found guilty of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraudulent concealment.
After a three-day trial and six hours of deliberation, a jury determined on Thursday that West gave the victim genital herpes after they met on Facebook five years ago.
'You can’t fix it, she’s got it for the rest of her life,' said the woman's attorney Shaun Murphy, as reported by Click 2 Houston.
Douglas' father pastor Ralph Douglas West is the founder of the church, which has about over 24,000 members across three locations.
The unnamed victim got an outbreak a few days after the encounter with the assistant pastor, and then tested positive for herpes.
She knew West was the source of it because she had not had sex with anyone else and had a prior negative test, Murphy added.
West reportedly admitted he had herpes when the victim asked him about, saying it had come from his son's mother. West is pictured with a son on his social media but it's unclear if he is married.
The lawyer said he was able to prove to the jury that West knew he was infected with the STD but lied about when he had unprotected sex with the woman in March 2018.
The assistant pastor will now have to pay $1,450,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000,000 in exemplary/punitive damages - believed to be the largest payment ordered in such a case.
West is a minister at the Eldridge campus, according to the church’s website.
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Too bad it wasn’t HIV. It would have been thrown out of court and the woman thrown in jail for a hate crime.
Ironically, if he had given her AIDS, the virus with its own ‘civil rights,’ he’d be in the clear.
I’ve wondered for years why people who know they have STDs are not held accountable and charged with crimes (ranging up to manslaughter or murder) and required to make restitution to victims who contract the STDs from them. This ought to be standard practice. But it would force admission from the “my body my choice” crowd that what we do with our bodies has profound consequences for others and for society generally.
French cuffs. Naturally.
She was an idiot.
She deserves nothing for adultery.
I agree.
Ultimately, the fault lies with both of them.
Ridiculous. How many women have given men herpes and not paid them a dime?
Pastors lately have been not following the Bible. Hypocrites that make Christians look bad. Any wonder why the numbers are down big on numbers who call themselves Christian.
Ralph Douglas West II.
Oh an old OLD joke just came into my mind. Probably not suitable for here.
Says she hadn’t had sex with anybody. Now if she is or was a virgin... would love to get her phone, email and text records from the defense to see what she was talking about with her friends. What did she think she might gain or get in return for her services. Adultry is inself an issue.
Me thinks she did this just to sue him. He did it because that’s the perks of “his position”. It’s a good gig if you can get it, to quote the two old Catholic priests who ran the orphanage in Korea back in 84 - being a Korean pastor is great gig if you can get - the perks beyond what this guy was doing from “his” church.
Amazing this judge would ask to give her 2.45M - I doubt the guy makes 100k and the church is not responsible for his ungodly behavior. They should fire him for cause.
Another BLACK preacher.
Good luck collecting 2.5 mill from an assistant pastor.
Maybe the jury had a sense of humor.
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