Social worker accused of hiding religious sect abuse resigns

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A veteran social worker accused of coaching congregants and their children on what to say during a 2015 child abuse investigation of her secretive religious sect has resigned, an attorney for a child welfare agency said Friday.

Andrea Leslie-Fite said Lori Cornelius left her position at the Cleveland County Department of Social Services. The development came less than two weeks after The Associated Press published a report that quoted former members of the Word of Faith Fellowship sect saying that Cornelius and two assistant district attorneys — all members of the church — had helped undermine abuse investigations. The prosecutors resigned their posts and are under investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

SBI spokesman Patty McQuillan said Friday the agency isn’t currently investigating Cornelius or the Rutherford County Divi- sion of Social Services. But she said that could change.

Leslie-Fite did not answer questions about the circumstances of the Cornelius departure. In her letter of resignation, Cornelius cited to various unspecified reasons. Leslie-Fite added only that the resignation had been submitted earlier in the week, effective Friday.

In her letter, Cornelius did not mention the coverup allegations that stem from an investigation of abuse at the secretive sect located in Spindale, North Carolina, at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In its ongoing investigation, the AP has reported that the 2015 social services investigation included complaints that students at the church-run K-12 school were encouraged to beat classmates to cast out devils. Former members also said Cornelius coached children on what to tell investigators with the help of assistant prosecutors Frank Webster and Chris Back. Back is the son-in-law of sect leader Jane Whaley.

That DSS probe ended with no charges.

“In my opinion, the Cleveland County DSS allowed Mrs. Cornelius an undue graceful exit,” said John Huddle, who left the church in 2008. “We should hope that in the future that any ‘wealth of knowledge’ would be put to a more positive outcome. Now, we again ask for the comprehensive investigation that these events warrant.”