2023 www.news-leader.com. In the 1990s, male counselors reportedly held Gold Bond Parties, during which they gathered nude campers into communal showers and applied medicated talc to campers genitals. And so he's like, how big is your circus tent? ", The lawsuit adds, "During each of these activities Defendant Newman falsely represented to the young Plaintiff that these behaviors were okay or normal and were not 'sinful'. He currently resides in Branson, Missouri, with his wife, Debbie Jo. Newman was "just a fun dude," Hoffpauir said:"He invited me to hang out with him. But only he and Newman were present, he now recalls. He was never a Kanakuk camper, but he said he took part in plenty of activities with Newman. Former Kanakuk counselor Michael Horn said he was working at the camp in 2002 when he and another counselor witnessed a third counselor sleeping in a closed sleeping bag with a shirtless child straddling thatcounselors bare chest. "They were mostly promoting Youth Life at that time," Dygert said, referencing the religious youth group that Kanakuk now calls "K-Life. He died in a car crashwhile apolice investigation was ongoing. So I started going to Youth Life, hanging out with Pete. While Caroline was discussing the groping incident with Chancey in 2016, she recalled that hebrought the boy into the meeting. One night after everybody had left and it was just Pete and I in the hot tub, he suggested we masturbate by hand. They were unfamiliar with Joe White. The letter demands Kanakuk admit thatnumerous allegations of sex abuse by people linked to the camp are true. He saw Newman as a "very popular guy," well-liked, a "powerful, motivated, enthusiastic speaker," a "superstar.". And like, competitive. On June 9, 2010, Newman, then 34, pleaded guilty in Taney County court to eight charges of sexually abusing six children in connection with his role as a counselor In fact, the man who She's just, she's trying to figure it out. ", Kanakuk alsosaid it developed a "comprehensive Child Protection Plan" because of the "tragedy.". People thought of Paul Green as this God-like figure, said Blake Fusch, who was 14 when he spent a summer in the 30-year-old counselors cabin. It might have been the first time he was abused; he can't remember. In October 2003, after being confronted about being nude with campers, Newman signed a probationary contract. Kind of a step further than that is holding Kanakuk responsible. On at least two occasions that predated Newmans confession, male counselors at Kanakuk were fired over allegations ofsexual touching. The executive director has assured me on several occasions since 2003 that he made Joe (White) aware of my report. An in-depth investigation released in March 2021 by former ACLJ and Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel and National Review author David French and his wife for the online journal The Dispatch revealed a number of victims of Kanakuk were under non-disclosure agreements which were signed as part of legal settlements. I remember conversations about virginity on purity nights when they would discuss these topics, said Riggs, the former camper. They gave all the boys rubber bands and told them to snap them every time they were having impure thoughts A girl would walk by and snap! That just destroyed her, and my family was shocked.". One lawsuit, filed on behalf of John Doe IX in 2011, cites documents provided by Kanakuk referencing reports from as early as 1999 of Newman swimming, running, playing basketball and riding four-wheelers nude with campers. Nudity is just what they do.. He and his wife Lois live in Colorado. Hoffpauir grew up in Branson. Linda Turley represented Joe Alarcon along with his wife, Brandi, and son, Ashton, in a settlement with Kanakuk in April 2013. "And the counselor was like, the camp's reaching out to victims, and don't worry about that. It was the largest settlement of its kind in Missouri that year. A portion of Kanakuks attorneys response follows: This is a blatant factual misstatement. In 1990, Jones returned to Kanakuk at 13 and saw Price again. For those of you who do not know the history of Pete Newman, please read the entire post. Evan Hoffpauir and Keith Dygert, both 34, of Branson, Mo., survived child sex abuse by former Kanakuk sports camp counselor Peter Newman. Fuschs parents met Green when they picked their son up from camp and were impressed. ", "When that was normalized, when masturbation was kind of an inroad to what he wanted to do with boys, () To me, he kind of made everything else OK," Hoffpauir said. (Newman, camp owner White and Kanakuk were named as defendants in that case, first filed in 2015; White and Kanakuk were later dropped from the suit. This is worth fighting for. He worked there from 1995 until he was fired in2009. I sure love being on your team!. I didn't talk to anyone. How's your family? I went to California with him. ), A probationary agreement Newman signed Oct. 22, 2003 specifically prohibited nudity or sexual behavior, as well as further visits from out-of-state kids and sleepovers during which Newman spent the night alone with one or more children. The shame I experienced as a victim is something that I do not wish to bear on anyone. "I don't think I really questioned why, I was just kind of flattered by it. Just really screwed-up stuff.". Clearly, we were trying to provide privacy and minimize the possibility of counselors being nude in front of campers., It [nudity] was just a thing at Kanakuk, said former camper James McCaslin. "I would say it was helpful for the first year or so, because I was able to just express my thoughts and feelings with someone who I at that time trusted. She accused the boy of lying in the eyes of the Lord.. As far as campers and camp employeesgo, "thousands" of high school and college-aged students come to Branson each year, Hoffpauir said, some drawn to Kanakuk's educational arms, Link Academy and Kanakuk Institute. snap! Like independent house churches, they have no outside reality check if they go sour Currently, the camp's websiteprices four-week sessions at $4,800 per child. Hoffpauir describedthe abuse as "threefold:" physical, sexual and spiritual. "Dorking around" was how he referred to this kind of activity,Dygert and Hoffpauir said. Caroline refused. We want to insure [sic]that Pete be involved in a lifetime of ministry.. As the News-Leader reported last month, the unsigned open letter argued that Kanakuk should agree to an external, independent investigation by a law firm. Dygert's family learned about the abuse around 2010, the year Newman was convicted and sentenced to life in state prison. I was pretty shy around boys when I was younger, so it felt uncomfortable for me., More:Kanakuk camper says she was told to apologize, denied call home after reporting abuse. More:Survivors, ex-employees say unreported abuse at Kanakuk camps in Branson spans decades. And I told him, 'I don't feel comfortable with that.'". The first lawsuit, filed Jan. 31, 2011, in Taney County Circuit Court, charges officials at the Christian sports camp Kanakuk with fraud for allowing Pete Newman to masquerade as a role model at the same time he was molesting scores of underage boys. Ever since Pete Newmanpleaded guiltyto sexually abusing six boys,Kanakuk has touted itself as a leader in child safety, holding seminars across the nation. Since the 1970s, under the leadership of White and his wife Debbie-Jo, Kanakuk has become one of the largest Christian camps in the world. WebWarning: strpos(): Empty needle in /var/home/ikvetlvq/meinardadraudze.lv/retro-bowl/index.php on line 1 Long known as a charismatic director and ambassador for the camp, Newman's abuse of campers and others he met through Kanakuk-affiliated ministries often began with casual nudity and discussions about how to control sexual desires, progressing to mutual masturbation and sodomy. The 1999 incident wasnt the last. Always it was with my Christian friends , Newman wrote to a former camper., Never was there sexual attraction. After 2005, when he was roughly 18, he no longer participated "in Kanakuk programs on Kanakuk property," according to a court filing. Two years later, after further complaints, Cunningham and several other camp leaders confronted Newman, who admitted to being naked with kids. Newman was in his mid-20s. At minimum, this does not look good. Since the 1970s, under the leadership of White and his wife Debbie-Jo, Kanakuk has become one of the largest Christian camps in the world. On that first night of abuse, Dygert said Newman told him, "'This would be one of the best bonding things we could do.' OK, I'll pray for you. ", In a statement on the camp's website, Kanakuk noted that "no charges for failure to report were ever filed against any Kanakuk staff" in connection with the Newman case and that "we were devastated by the deceptive practices of this individual, and continue to grieve with the victims and their families. The limited scope of the guilty plea concealed the sheer scale of the abuse," wrote David French and Nancy French with The Dispatch. Cunningham, who was Newmans supervisor at the Branson camp, confirmed the practice was in place in the 1980s through at least the early 2000s.. Attached to the lawsuit filed by Logan is a sworn affidavit signed by a former supervisor at Kanakuk. ", "She, it's horrible," he told the News-Leader. What do I do? the camper asked him, according to White. Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps and its associated ministries area multimillion-dollar global enterprise that includes the largest evangelical sports summer camp in the world. And at that point, I was like, OK, this is weird. Every time we talk, she cries about it. He was imprisoned When Dygert and Hoffpauir's families learned of the abuse, it caused them to be "damaged from the inside," in the words of Dygert's civil lawsuit papers. The prosecutor who oversaw the case of Peter Newman said the number of victims could be in the hundreds. Lee Bradbury pleaded guilty in 2013 to four sex related charges involving The next day, Fusch asked to have a friend spend the night so they could sleep in the living room. We went together, stayed in the cabin together. I mean, it happened.. This guy has a raging love for God and it spills over constantly to the Tredennick said Grimes actions did not constitute a reportable offense in a criminal context when Grimes was terminated in 1989. More:Former Kanakuk counselor Peter Newman named in new sex-abuse lawsuit. Horn said he informed Chancey, the camp director; Chancey told him he had reported the incident to White, but said they wanted to allow the counselor to stay at Kanakuk. Price, who has worked with at least three schools and is a girlsvolleyball coach in St. Louis, continued to volunteer with the Kanakuk-affiliated KLIFE youth ministry until at least February 2022, when a reporter called the Urban KLIFE chapter in St. Louis. A prosecutor told the News-Leader at the time that Newman admitted to sexual activity with as many as 13 other minors. The detective suggested having the boy confront Green on a phone call, which police would record. Craig Heidemann, attorney for the plaintiffs, dubbed John Doe XII and John Doe XIII in court filings, declined to comment on the lawsuits during a brief interviewMonday. Two weeks after Leadership Weekend, I was informed that Pete would be continuing as my assistant director and that I was to play an enhanced mentoring role in Petes life., I suspected immediately that this decision had been handed down from Joe, and I felt incredibly minimized, used, and angry at being forced to work with a man who had broken serious policies, Cunningham said. I stuffed it. The abuse itself began in a relatively "minimal" way, Dygert said. Jason Wert. Hoffpauir said his mother, who only learned about his abuse experience in early February, "is doing awful. Hed squirt this Gold Bond at the campers like it was baby powder. (KY3) - A former Kanakuk Kamps counselor already convicted of sexually abusing young boys has been hit with another judgment in civil A reporter attempted calls to four phone numbers linked to Staples in public records databases. In his 1996 book Pure Excitement, White describes a conversation with a 15-year-old camper who confessed he frequently masturbated and lusted after girls. After the conversation with Whites daughter, the book says, the boy changed his media consumption habits and was largely free from lust. Its a fun event.. Former Kanakuk staff interviewed for this story, including a supervisor who recommended Newman be fired in 2003, say those complaints were repeatedly excused and dismissed. Pete did it along with us, one unnamed victim said, according to criminal court documents. Chuck Price, aKanakuk programs director, was fired in 1990, according to a victim, her mother and two former Kanakuk staff members who investigated separate complaints that he inappropriately touched young girls. They ziplined naked.It was just a guy thing at Kanakuk to be naked all the time.It was just part of the culture. Few reporters knew about the camps size or importance. More than 20,000 kids age 7-18 attend each summer. At maximum, it could destroy your ministry.. The bill, H.B. The newspaper left a voicemail for Staples at First Baptist Church, of Branson, where Staples serves as family life pastor. Nobody really reacted, Jones said. '", Newman's logic reflects sexual best practices suggested by Kanakuk's owner, Joe White, as White explicitly outlined in the first edition of his teen manual for "sex, love and dating," titled "Pure Excitement. asserted the Newman scandalwas more widespread and systemic, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson pete newman kanakuk wife. Its interesting as amazingly gifted and talented as he is, and he certainly is, he mentioned that there isnt a night of the week where there wasnt someone in the hot tub to minister to, White said in the message. Through offshoots like Youth Life (now dubbed "K-Life"), Kanakuk reaches even more children and teenagers than those who attend camp. Robert John Morgan, a former pilot for Kanakuk CEO White, pleaded guilty in 2004 to sexually abusing a young girl and remains on Missouri's sex offender registry. Court filings in multiple lawsuits have alleged that Newmans nudity was reported to camp leaders repeatedly. We were 6-12 years old, during our formative years, and as a young girl it was very uncomfortable. The fact that Newman regularly hosted boys in his hot tub was no secret, although his supervisors at the camp maintain they didnt know of the nudity or abuse. "These are the most affluent kids in the country," he said. Like other young Christianswho crossed Newman's path, Hoffpauir described Newman, then roughly 26 years old,as an ideal person for evangelical youth ministry: "Very charismatic," Hoffpauir told the News-Leader in a recent interview. Why did he leave? And I just didn't answer. He knew I knew. "That was like a solid eight hours we're in mediation, just like, zero empathy or respect for us from the Kanakuk side, just downplaying everything that happened, lowballing us on the settlement figure.". Dygert referred Hoffpauir then living overseas to Staples, who talked to Hoffpauir using the Skype app. Camp leaders rebuked the girls, not the boy, she said. More than a decade later, Ringheim volunteered with KLIFE in Orlando. When they vacationed in Florida, where Green was living, they invited him along, a common practice among Kanakuk families. Evan Hoffpauir, a man from Branson who says he survived sex abuse by former Kanakuk counselor Peter Newman, praised the First Baptist Church in West Plains for its move. ", Hoffpauir said, "For so many years, I knew (the abuse) was wrong, but I looked around, and no one else cared. Not all reports of inappropriate behavior went unpunished. It was the story of sexual predation at Kanakuk Kamps, one of the largest Christian camps in the United Statesthe summer camp of the Evangelical eliteand a superpredator named Pete Newman, a camp counselor who became a camp director who systematically abused boys by the dozens for more than a decade. Branson resident Evan Hoffpauir said that in 2009, former Christian sports camp counselor Peter Newman, now a convicted sexual predator,called himwith a prayer request. '", He added, "It's given me a voice and has given me strength to keep talking and realizing this was wrong. Newman reportedly hadnaked conversations with campersand engaged in mutual masturbation and"hot tub Bible studies" with boys, as the News-Leader reported during his 2009 trial. "I'm just saying (to her), you cannot blame other people. '", They talked regularly for nine years, Hoffpauir said, from 2012 until September of 2021. () Theyre everywhere. The fun ended when Caroline felt a male camper slide his hands into her athletic shorts. They were rich. ", "It's just, 'how's it going?'" ", "The issue of right and wrong with masturbation is the issue of lust," White wrote in his '90s-era book for Christian youth, published in connection with a fundamentalistchurch nonprofit, Focus on the Family. "She's not doing well. In 2000, when Morgan was awaiting trial and White knew thathe had confessed to hiw wife that he had sodomizedan adolescent female relative, White gave him off-season housing at Kanakuk. Increased responsibility for our camp's 14-acre property, 2.) Satan had won his mind, White wrote, and the only thing the boy knew how to do was masturbate and mentally rape girls.. Newman, Hoffpauir said, performed the ceremony. "They're going to different tables. In the intervening time, another camper reported that Price had rubbed her leg and stuck his hand up her miniskirt on a Kanakuk-affiliated bus trip in the mid-1980s. Over the next several years, Newmans supervisors were alerted to multiple incidents in which Newman ran, swam, played sports and rode four-wheelers naked with children. White said, Pete Newman is the most thorough relationship builder with kids in Kanakuk history. He was imprisoned following his 2010 sentencingon seven felony counts of sexually abusing boys, in connection with his role as a Kanakuk counselor. ", Hoffpauir said he does not know who funded the counseling by Staples. The site, which says it is run by victims and their family members,issued an open letter in February demanding that Kanakuk agree to an independent investigation of abuse claims and calling onleaders to release victims from non-disclosure agreements. Caroline said her experience at Kanakuk made it harder to trust. He was 13. ", Newman's call came in 13 years ago, butHoffpauir said he remembers thatwhen the phone rang, he was in bed watching TV with his wife, Madison. Years and years ago, he said, referring to the 1950s when he began attending camp. ", Echoing similar suits filed in the past, Doe XIII's complaint asserts that beforeNewmans 2009 arrest and prosecution in Taney County, there were "at least 57 alleged victims of Newman including Plaintiff.". Evan Hoffpauir and Keith Dygert grew up in Branson, Missouri. None at all., Robert Shaffer, a Kanakuk counselor from 1991 to 1995, contradicted that claim. It's two grand-plus to go to camp for two weeks. A girl in my cabin and I came up with a plan to keep our swimsuits on and just get our hair wet., Dallas native Elizabeth Hunt Harris, who attended camp from 1994 until 2004, said she only went to K-Kountry once due to her discomfort after being watched in the shower. The negotiations were a bruising experience. Fusch said Green packed and left abruptly after hearing Fusch tell his sister about the abuse. WebSample Page; ; "Honestly, I kind of remember being bitter about it," Hoffpauir said, recalling how Newman "withdrew" from his life as his relationship with his future wife began to blossom. "Its big money. It wasn't until years later that I learned that good man was a pedophile and the people needing the prayers were the countless victims I spent my summers with, not Pete.. TWW wrote, in August 2016, Peter Newman, Serving 35 Years for Molestations at Kamp Kanakuk, Was Allegedly Hired by Fellowship Memphis While Awaiting Trial. I came from a modest household so I felt weird, that something mustve been wrong with me. Counselors said these parties were a kind of Christian fellowship and dubbed the experience gold bonding time, according to former St. Louis camper Tim Clark, who attended K-Kountry from 1998 to2001 and was at other Kanakuk sitesafter that., Pete Newman bragged about starting these parties, Clark said. So this isn't sexual. I was at camp the day Pete was convicted, said a former Texas camper who was 15 at the time. Twodozen of them now regularly communicate by text message, Hoffpauir said. By 2000, if not earlier, Kanakuks Employee Playbook included specific prohibitions against nudity, according to documents referenced in cases filed by Newman victims. He added that Newman "already established in my brain that this masturbation stuff was not wrong, because I wasn't lusting. went the bracelets. snap! Then he made his way up my leg and put his fingers in my vagina, she said. In March, less than a month after Whites open letter to victims, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation included Kanakuk in its2022 Dirty Dozen list, alleging decades of child sexual abuse at Kanakuk Kamps have been swept under the rug by the organization., When Ed Ringheim was arrested in Florida in 2011 for allegedly abusing several boys including one he had chaperoned to Kanakuk the camp issued a statement noting it had extensive policies in place to protect the health and safety of every child attending Kanakuk., Ringheim had once worked as a counselor at the camp but the statementsought to distance the camp from KLIFE, the youth ministry for which Ringheim volunteered. Both say they were sexually abused for years by former Kanakuk camp counselor Peter Newman. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson pete newman kanakuk wife. The Dygertssettled. Hoffpauir, now 34, recalledthat during the phone call, Newmantold him, "Things are getting crazy. The connection is so deep, and that loyalty is so strong, that you'll essentially kind of do whatever to keep that relationship. In October 2008, less than a year before Newman confessed, Kanakuk CEO White dictated an email congratulating him for a chapel presentation in which Newman bragged about the hot tub Bible studies., In the email, White told Newman he had a tremendous message, it was very appropriate and well received by all. Kanakuk leaders also have described convicted child molester Pete Newman as a lone predator but he wasn't the first or last abuser connected to the camp. More:Kanakuk issues new statement on camp child sex abuse; survivor calls it 'disgusting'. WebWarning: strpos(): Empty needle in /var/home/ikvetlvq/meinardadraudze.lv/retro-bowl/index.php on line 1 "We're going to try to renew our vows and do something different because of it. Nothing happened to you?' And he spoke two nights, and I was his minor, little-kid helper. Dygert said he met Newman in a Branson public school lunchroom. "We were at a birthday dinner, just our family, and it came out," Dygert said. The attention he got from Newman felt like "you've got this really special thing," Dygert told the News-Leader. Great. Any victim can reach out to Kanakuk by emailing us at victimsupport@kanakuk.com or access several independent victim advocacy organizations such as ChildHelp.org or Rainn.org, which can provide access to local support services, reporting assistance, and educational resources. Survivors says Newmans idea of bonding often involved invitations to participate in nude activities. All rights reserved. Newman pleaded guilty last year in Taney County court to three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy and two counts of enticement of a child. No More Victims, whose organizers have not been made public, recently issued an open letter to Kanakuk and its owner, White. When my counselor heard about this, he warned me to stay away from Pete., Other counselors followed Newmans lead, Clark said, making the parties a staple for a time.. All rights reserved. It was a night when we were going to have a swim and then watch a movie, said Jones, who agreed to be identified by name for this story. And while vengeance is not mine, and vengeance is the Lord's, we are called to bring about justice on earth, and that's what I'm here for.". You're going to hear some stuff, and I just need prayers. Were not bringing the Lord into this, Chancey interrupted, according to Caroline. WebThe newspaper left a voicemail for Staples at First Baptist Church, of Branson, where Staples serves as family life pastor. One of Newmans victims called John Doe IX in court documents won a nearly $20-million settlement against Newman and Kanakuk in 2018. "'Dygert, you're one of my best friends. The group shower stalls at K-Kountry were rooms with four shower heads, and they made us partner up two campers per shower head, said Annie Riggs, a former camper from Denver who attended in the early 2000s. She also said she told her counselor and a camp director. It wasnt a part of our culture.. So I did masturbate by hand and he did too, under the water. The News-Leaderleft three detailed voicemails on the phone line linked to Staples' Branson-area counseling practice. OK, talk to you later. ", He added that the children of Kanakuk managers had, and have, a major role in the community's social life: "They were popular. I remember us all looking at each other stunned, and the supervisors laughing and saying, Well, if it's in here, it happened., Former camper Elizabeth Hunt Harris said, Even after Pete was busted, the male counselors would tell me stories about being naked around camp for fun. (Last year, Newman was found liable for more than $5 million in damages in that case, Missouri court records show.) Kanakuk camp 'abuse survivors' call for independent investigation into sexual assault accusations, that were reportedly flagged for Kanakuk leaders in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006, recently issued an open letter to Kanakuk and its owner, Kanakuk issues new statement on camp child sex abuse; survivor calls it 'disgusting', were first published last year by The Dispatch, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Kanakuk Kamp CEO Joe White. Former Kanakuk counselor Peter Newman is now serving two life sentences for sexually abusing boys at the camp for many years. But ininterviews with dozens of victims and former camp employees reporters working for the Springfield News-Leader part of the USA TODAY Network learned how camp leaders have repeatedly disregardedred flags and prioritized ministering to those accusedof wrongdoing, instead of seeking justice for victims. WebNewman pleaded guilty in 2010 to seven counts of sexual abuse, and the prosecutor said Newmans victim count might be in the hundreds. Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism. The new suit seeks$5 million in damages from Newman personally and isthe secondlawsuit against Newman to be filed in Christian County courts in the past three months. Increased focus on the development of our staff, and 3.) And since he's a guy, I mean, that's what he would say, like, 'We're just guys, we're not gay. "The investigation by law enforcement that resulted in the prosecution of Pete Newman did not result in any criminal or civil charges against Kanakuk leadership or staff," they added. "And I had still been aware of what had gone on, but at that point, I still didn't know that I had been so successfully groomed in this entire process, thatI still didn't realize it was wrong. WebKanakuk actively concealed what they knew about the sexual abuse being perpetrated by Pete Newman and induced victims and survivors into settlements and NDAs, said Robert Thrasher, one of Yandells attorneys, in a news release. But not everything is cracked up to what it seems, she said. In fact, Grimes did not leave voluntarily. In the old days, bathing in the river and bathing in the lake were commonplace, said White, who also serves a board chair of Kanakuk Ministries. Jones told a friend about the 1985 incident, who confirmed her account when contacted for this story. We will never stop being sorry for the pain inflicted on victims and their families. He wrote his phone number on my hand and said, 'Hey, let's hang out sometime.' WebI have not seen Kanakuk publicize their knowledge of former camp director Pete Newmans extracurricular nude activity with minors. Church, of Branson, where Staples serves as family life pastor,. Settlement against Newman and Kanakuk in 2018 linked to Staples, who admitted to activity. Discussing the groping incident with Chancey in 2016, she cries about.... Camper., never was there sexual attraction admit thatnumerous allegations of sex abuse ; survivor calls it '., recently issued an open letter to Kanakuk at 13 and saw Price again he! Former Kanakuk counselor Peter Newman named in new sex-abuse lawsuit also said she told her counselor and camp! 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