A Baptist pastor, a Baptist school principal, the schools athletic director and a teacher have all been arrested in a child sex abuse case. The details are disturbing. Apparently, pastor Franklin “Wayne” Knight was notified on three different occasions that one of his female teachers was having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Knight, who is also the former superintendent of Hilltop Baptist School, failed to report the crime. A grand jury indicted Knight on charges of failure to report child abuse or neglect and accessory to a crime.
Can you guess why nothing happened? The alleged child molester, Terah Allyn Rawlings, in the niece of pastor Knight. Apparently, HIlltop Baptist church and its school are a family run business. Knight even fired two teachers who went to authorities with the abuse allegations. The nepotism is appalling. and so is the hypocrisy.
The abuse was reported to the athletic director Raymond Knight. You guessed it. Raymond is Rawlings father and presumably pastor Knights brother.
The indictment said Knight discouraged witnesses from coming forward. It states he displayed a consistent pattern to manipulate and control the situation. He reportedly told church members who questioned him about the allegations, "If you persist with this, your relationship with the church will be damaged."
Source: Teacher, Pastors, Former Principal Arrested In Sex Assault Case
What surprises me most about this type of story is that I do not hear of more cases. I call these types of operations FBC, ‘Family Business Churches”. If you are outside the family, you cannot win. The family holds all the cards. If you are a teacher, you are fired. If you a congregant, you are expelled. It’s a scam.
The police brought the Grand Jury in to investigate because people, including the victim, were not cooperation. I’m happy to see this move. The church and school did it’s best to sweep this under the rug. It’s time for our secular government to hold these hypocrites to a higher standard because it’s obvious that they cannot hold themselves to their own biblical standard.
For the record
- Church involved: Hilltop Baptist Church in Colorado Springs
- School involved: Hilltop Baptist School (website down)
- Pastor indicted: Franklin “Wayne” Knight - failure to report child abuse or neglect and accessory to a crime
- Associate pastor indicted: Raymond Knight – failure to report child abuse or neglect
- Principle indicted: Jan Ocvirk - failure to report child abuse or neglect and accessory to a crime
- Teacher indicted: Terah Allyn Rawlings – eight counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and obscenity-promotion
I hope the parents of children attending HIlltop Baptist school are doing the right thing and pulling there kids from the school.
Something in my wants to rant... I’m perplexed by the thinking here. It cannot be driven by their faith. Nothing about this crime speaks to life as a Christian. It’s all about money driven self-interest and control. Where is your god in this? What glory do you bring to god by hiding the abuse of a child?
Logging you in...
Guest · 700 weeks ago
2) To make the point ... when confronted back in 2007, the victim, who's now 19, says that he didn't have sex with the teacher ... that he was angry at her and made the story up to get back at her. He still denies it today. The Grand Jury heard testimony from others who only reported what the then-young fella had relayed to them regarding his sexual conquest.
2) The school closed in the last year or so due to a lack of students attending.
3) Parents, the victim, and a host of others offered conflicting stories of what had happened. The senior pastor called for meetings, interviewed a host of people, and came to the conclusion that the boy's story was not true. That's why he took no action.
Mojoey 107p · 700 weeks ago
allegation. That's what he did not do. That's why he's in trouble. You
get that right?
Guest · 690 weeks ago
Anonymous · 689 weeks ago
Not Given · 634 weeks ago
Guest · 613 weeks ago