A former Riverside megachurch pastor has been accused of sexually abusing and trafficking kids for years at a shelter he ran in Bucharest, in accordance with lawsuits filed by two Romanian males in U.S. District Court docket in California.
The complaints, filed Tuesday by 33-year-old Marian Barbu and 40-year-old Mihai-Constantin Petcu, stated former Harvest Christian Fellowship pastor and missionary Paul Havsgaard severely abused them and dozens of different kids on the shelter over eight years.
The lawsuits additionally identify the church’s founder and senior pastor, Greg Laurie, a widely known evangelist and writer, in addition to different senior church leaders, saying they failed to forestall abuse.
The lawsuits accuse Havsgaard of luring struggling road children with quick meals and the promise of shelter and schooling.
The lads are “damage, offended and nonetheless affected by PTSD and social difficulties,” stated Jef McAllister, a London-based lawyer with the legislation agency representing Barbu and Petcu.
The Related Press typically doesn’t identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly, as Barbu and Petcu have performed.
The church offered no contact for Havsgaard, and The Related Press was unable to achieve him by way of emails and telephone numbers discovered by way of on-line searches. Harvest Christian Fellowship stated in a press release that the allegations within the lawsuit have been surprising however that Havsgaard must be the goal, not the church or its famed founding pastor.
“This misplaced lawsuit wrongly targets Harvest Riverside and our pastor as a type of monetary extortion,” the assertion stated. “It doesn’t search the reality nor does it search to cease the purported wrongdoer.”
The complaints allege negligence on the church’s half, accusing Laurie and different senior church leaders of failing to oversee Havsgaard regardless of repeated purple flags and reviews from donors, guests, and others that they suspected sexual abuse and noticed poor dwelling circumstances on the shelter.
The lawsuit stated Laurie not solely saved Havsgaard in Romania with minimal oversight, however that the church additionally deposited $17,000 every month to Havsgaard’s private checking account.
Havsgaard additionally returned to California, bringing a few of the kids he was accused of abusing, to lift cash for Harvest, citing his work rehabilitating road kids in Romania, the lawsuit stated.
The church stated it did fund Havsgaard’s initiative for “a time period,” as they’ve supported quite a few missionaries world wide, however “most of what’s within the lawsuits about our church is totally and fully false; a few of it’s plainly slanderous.”
The church stated it has tried to have interaction with the plaintiffs and reported their allegations to legislation enforcement, however the males and their lawyer have refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities.
Barbu stated in his criticism that life on the shelter was like “a torture chamber inside a jail” and that Havsgaard would present up frequently within the lavatory whereas boys have been showering or undressed, stare at them or masturbate of their presence.
Each plaintiffs have additionally accused Havsgaard of “pimping out” older boys for intercourse work by way of video chat or at bathhouses and taking a minimize of their earnings.
The complaints element sexual assault, inappropriate touching and abuse the place kids have been made to kneel on walnut shells or have been tied to their beds or radiators.
In accordance with the lawsuit, Havsgaard informed the kids whereas abusing them: “I do know what God needs; what I need, God needs.”
McAllister stated that within the coming weeks, he expects to file lawsuits involving at the least 20 others who say they have been abused on the shelter.
“A few of them are nonetheless illiterate despite the fact that they lived in these houses the place they have been alleged to get an schooling,” he stated. “They’ve points with belief. They give the impression of being after one another.”
Most of them reside in poverty and are searching for monetary assist and vindication, McAllister stated.
“They’ve had a tough slog,” he stated. “They would love to get some sense that they’ve been heard and that the injustices they’ve suffered are acknowledged.”
