Posted on 03/07/2019 10:49:59 AM PST by Gamecock
A volunteer at the NewSpring Church campus in North Charleston, South Carolina faces charges for sexually abusing more than a dozen young boys in his care last year, a lawsuit says.
But he’s not the only one.
Another volunteer in Florence was charged in 2016 for kissing and fondling a teenage boy at the NewSpring church campus there, WBTW reported. In Anderson County, yet another volunteer at NewSpring faced charges in 2016 after police say he fondled a 10-year-old boy, according to WYFF. In early 2018, police arrested a former youth pastor and then-volunteer at NewSpring’s Charleston church for sexual exploitation and solicitation of a minor, WCIV reports.
The Anderson, South Carolina-based megachurch NewSpring has 14 campuses around the state. Other locations include Rock Hill, Hilton Head, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
A new report from the Charleston Post and Courier details the allegations against the three former volunteers and one employee, and the church’s response.
“Each time NewSpring reckoned with the fallout from these allegations, the church was consistently measured in its response. Its leaders offered nearly identical explanations in every case: NewSpring vetted its staff and volunteers through an extensive screening process. The accused individuals had been removed from their posts. Evil was to blame,” the Post and Courier reports.
In the most recent case, police say NewSpring volunteer Jacop Hazlett was caring for 3- and 4-year-old boys at the church when he was accused of performing oral sex on one of the boys in a bathroom, McClatchy reports. When a parent complained, church officials reviewed 90 days of video from the daycare room and found more than a dozen incidents with Hazlett assaulting the preschoolers, a lawsuit says.
According to a lawsuit filed by parents, the church only keeps video for 90 days. The court filing says video showed the 28-year-old taking another 3-year-old boy to the bathroom, taking pictures of his genitals and assaulting him.
This is not the first time Hazlett faced charges for assaulting a child. When he was still a teenager, Hazlett “admitted to ‘kissing and touching’ a boy younger than 13 ‘between his legs,’ according to Columbiana County, Ohio juvenile court documents,” the Post and Courier reports.
Police charged Hazlett as a juvenile and he later pleaded guilty to a lesser attempted assault charge, avoiding sex offender registration, the newspaper reported.
Hazlett later moved to North Carolina and volunteered for a church there, McClatchy reported. Police in Davidson, North Carolina are looking into an accusation against Hazlett from a 7-year-old boy there, according to WCIV.
Here are the accusations against former NewSpring volunteers and employees:
Jacop Hazlett: Facing charges for sexually abusing children, police say Hazlett assaulted preschool-age boys while he was a volunteer at the church daycare in North Charleston in 2018, McClatchy reports.
Caleb Lide Jordan: Police charged the former NewSpring youth pastor “with four counts of exploitation of a minor, including solicitation of a minor for sex” in March 2018, WCIV reports. Those charges are still pending in Dorchester County, according to online court records. NewSpring officials deny that Jordan had any inappropriate contact with children at the church, the outlet reported. A church official told the Post and Courier that Jordan “served as a church volunteer after stepping down from his paid position” in 2015.
Leo LaSalle Comissiong: Officers arrested Comissiong in 2016 after a staff member caught the then-20-year-old volunteer kissing and fondling a 15-year-old, WYFF reports. Police charged him with criminal sexual conduct with a minor, but the outcome of the case is unclear from court records.
Chaz Mckinsey Wood: Police say Wood fondled a 10-year-old boy while volunteering at the NewSpring campus in Anderson, South Carolina, in December 2015, WYFF reports. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault and battery in December 2017 and received a 10-year suspended sentence, court records show.
S.C. Pastor Preaches 'Sex in the Church'
Megachurch daycare volunteer caught on video molesting a three-year-old boy 'sexually assaulted...
Perry Noble removed as pastor at NewSpring for personal behavior related to alcohol
And my favorite: Noble rescinds the Ten Commandments for 2015
Betcha’ the average school district has an even higher percentage of child molesters on staff.
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They make a beeline for anywhere young families and young children congregate. It’s a magnet for them.
This church has had so many scandals, I just don’t understand why people still go to this place.
Willie Sutton - “I rob banks because that’s where the money is.”
Pedos are the new heirs of Willie Sutton.
“Why did you get a job at a church?”
“Because that’s where the little boys are.”
Probably ... Note that it's all homosexual in nature, as well.
Rule One: NO POOFTERS!
For well over a decade, all church programs I have been affiliated with have a rule that no single adult will be in any room with any child.
This is just common sense.
“Rule Four: now listen clear, I don’t want to catch anybody not drinking!”
;
Must be because of that celibacy rule
On the one hand, it is so easy for children and parents to come forward with false allegations hoping they can leverage it into a settlement. On the other hand, when someone volunteers to help out with children’s ministry, it seems almost rude to pick through them like they are a pedophile.
I agree that a “two adult mandatory” policy combined with video cameras is essential. Your odds of a non-pedo improves if the staff/volunteers are women but not entirely. Pretty soon churches are going to need liability insurance as badly as doctors.
In my church it’s almost impossible to get anyone to do children’s Sunday school. No men volunteer. I can’t say I blame them in today’s moral climate.
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In churches in my Catholic diocese, we need to have several state background checks (consistent with PA state law for volunteers of any sort who have direct contact with children) and several other trainings/clearances.
EVERYONE GETS THEM. Employees? Yes, as a condition for employment. Sunday school teachers? Definitely. Youth ministry? Yep. People who read the Scripture lessons and serve as ushers for Mass? Them too. The ladies who make pierogis as a fundraiser? Even them, and they have become the platonic form of “’Everyone needs to get clearances’ means EVERYONE.”
I don’t volunteer for that either (I’m a man) although I did teach Sunday School for 2nd and 3rd graders back in the 1980s.
I’ll never forget the time I halted a lesson because I felt something on my ankle. I lifted my pant leg and noticed a flea. I plucked it off my leg and said,
“Children, you’re in for an instant Bible verse lesson. The Bible says the wages of sin is death and this flea has just sinned against me.”
With that, I crushed the little bug between my thumb and a fingernail.
I’ve taught 1st, 4th, 6th-8th grade and a combined HS class (9th-12th). I’ve always marveled that no one questioned my background, faith or knowledge. I’m a mother with one child and maybe they figured that I was safe (which I was!) They were just glad an adult volunteered. I like your flea lesson.
Their itching ears get scratched.
We would include the Sunday School workers, employees and officers (Elders, the closest RC equivalent being the permanent Deacons) and Deacons (which again the permanent deacons being the closest RC equivalent but probably a step below in both training and duties to the RC office) but not the ushers unless they fall under one of the other categories and collaterally serve as ushers.
No congregation, no matter what the precautions, is immune; What is important is taking all possible precautions, enforcing the rules for everyone, and most importantly, as we've seen from what has happened most notably with the Catholics, don't try to cover up or brush under the rug when something does happen.
For the record, I can come up with scandals linked to Baptist, Presbyterian, and Hare Krishnas in the Dallas area (and, of course, RC) without having to expend any effort. Now, the only scandals I can think of with regard to the Methodists in Dallas and in Fort Worth have involved adult women.
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