Youth leader Eric Caverly has the sex drive of a man in his early 20s if his boast of having sex with a teenaged girl up to 400 times is to be believed. The affair started when the girl…. wait a second here… the rapes started when the girl was 16. She was his babysitter.
The sexual relationship continued for most of the next three years, the documents show. The alleged victim would spend nights at the Caverly home, even a week or more at a time. The girl, who is now a 19-year-old woman, told investigators that most of the sexual encounters happened in the basement of Caverly's home.
The woman told investigators that the relationship with Caverly ended in October 2010 due to fighting between the two and Caverly's jealousy. The affidavit says she was forced to file a police report after revealing the sexual encounters to her parents and to her therapist.
I’ve learned that churches call a youth pastor a “lay youth leader” when they want to distance themselves from their former pastor’s crimes. Was Caverly a youth pastor? I’m betting that by most definitions the answer would be yes.
The babysitter angle is a new one. I’ll have to add that to the list of abuse vectors. I’m sure he will claim it was love.
Caverly worked at Springs Community Church in Colorado Springs. A check of their website shows no acknowledgement of the arrest or comments on the story. Check out their website. It raises all of my hackles. It’s hip. It’s fresh. It’s about building a relationship with the big guy upstairs. Oh, and pay no attention to the predator in our youth ministry.
