5 Tulsa church employees accused of failing to report child abuse
TULSA — Criminal charges were filed Monday against five Victory Christian Center employees, including relatives of Pastor Sharon Daugherty, who are accused of waiting more than two weeks before reporting the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl last month, according to Tulsa County District Court filings.
Paul Willemstein, 32, Anna George, 24, Harold Frank Sullivan, 73, Charica Dene Daugherty, 27, and John Samuel Daugherty, 28, face single misdemeanor counts of failure to report child abuse, court documents show.
Also charged Monday was former Victory Christian employee Israel Shalom Castillo.
He faces felony charges of making a lewd or indecent proposal to a child and using a computer to facilitate a sex crime.
Three of the employees who were charged with misdemeanors Monday were suspended last week after it was discovered that they failed to report allegations that then-Victory Christian Center employee Chris Denman sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl at the church.
Denman, 20, was fired before the police were notified of the allegations. He was arrested Sept. 5 and charged Thursday with felony counts of first-degree rape, forcible sodomy, lewd molestation and use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime, according to court and jail records.
Police allege that Denman sexually assaulted the girl in a stairwell near a band room at the facility, at 7700 S Lewis Ave., before a church service Aug. 13.
According to court records, the girl reported the rape to youth leaders Aug. 15 — about two weeks before the police were contacted.
Castillo, 23, is alleged to have had “a sexual indiscretion” with a 15-year-old girl, records show.
He was fired along with Denman, according to court documents.
Victory Christian Center suspended Willemstein, George and Sullivan on Friday because they knew of the rape allegations but didn’t report them “in a timely manner in accordance with an internal policy on reporting suspected cases of abuse or neglect,” according to a statement the church issued Monday.
Sharon Daugherty’s son John Samuel Daugherty and his wife, Charica Daugherty, have since been suspended, the statement said.
After the initial three suspensions, “the police investigation additionally determined that John and Charica both had some awareness of this incident,” the statement said. “Because of this finding, the ministry has also suspended John and Charica in accordance with our disciplinary policies while we continue an internal investigation.”
John Daugherty works at the church as senior high youth pastor, and Charica Daugherty is an assistant senior high youth pastor, according to the church.
Sullivan is the church’s human resources director. Willemstein, whose name is spelled Wilemstein in court documents, is an associate youth pastor, and George is a high school outreach program director.
Warrants have been issued for the arrests of all five employees, and their bail has been set at $1,500 each.
They were not in the Tulsa jail as of Monday evening, jail records indicated.
Authorities were informed Aug. 30 of the alleged rape and conducted a forensic interview with the 13-year-old girl the next day, Denman’s arrest report said.
The girl told police on Aug. 31 that on Aug. 13, be- fore a church service, Denman forcibly removed her clothes in a stairwell, “pushed her against a wall and had vaginal intercourse” with her, according to police records.
Regarding the allegations against Castillo, an affidavit filed Thursday outlines a sexual proposition the 15-year-old girl alleges she received from him via Facebook.
Both the girl and Castillo later told Victory Christian Center employees about the messages, the document said.
The girls met Denman and Castillo while attending summer camp at Camp Victory, where the men were on the staff, the affidavit states.
They continued contact after the camp via Facebook and cellphones, and Denman’s and Castillo’s positions at the church led to additional contact with young girls, the affidavit said.