I came across this story over at one of my favorite sites, Religious Douchebags.
Back around 1997 a woman who was 15 at the time and now living in Arizona was allegedly raped twice by Ernest Willis, a deacon at Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, New Hampshire.
The woman alleges that she ended up pregnant because of the rapes and that when she reported the rape and pregnancy to her parents and church officials the pastor, Chuck Phelps, blamed her for it. The church made her stand in front of the congregation and apologize for getting pregnant and later a pastor in Colorado, Matt Olson, talked her into writing a letter of apology asking Willis’ wife for her forgiveness.
Her parents later shipped her off to Colorado where she was forced to give the baby up for adoption. Police did have an open investigation in 1997 but it ended up being shelved since they couldn’t locate the victim. They have reopened the investigation after old friends and online posts led police to the woman.
Now 51-year-old Ernest Willis has been arrested and charged with Rape and Having Sex With a Minor (two counts each). He’s currently out on $100,000 bond and is to be officially arraigned on Wednesday, June 16th.
Pastor Chuck Phelps is now the pastor of Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. He claims that he reported the rape to police and child welfare official within a day of it being reported to him (which is when they opened the initial investigation) and also says that the Concord Police never called him or did anything. According to the former pastor of Trinity it was the victim’s mother who made the decision to move her to Colorado and he just helped her find a family to live with. He also stated that “I was the first one to report this to police, as was my duty…the people who didn’t do their job was the Concord Police Department.” That’s all fine and dandy but then this asshole states that he told her to “be responsible, don’t allow yourself to be around a person you know to be dangerous. She knew this person was dangerous after the first time but she continued to be around him…She needed to be responsible” So basically what he seems to be saying is that maybe it wasn’t the girl’s fault she was raped the first time but the second time she was molested it was her fault? While I believe that he probably did his part in reporting it, his statements are certainly callous enough.
It gets even weirder. Apparently one of the reasons that the victim had not reported the rape is that church members had told her not to report an earlier rape by a convicted sex offender who was also a member of the congregation as well as part of the victim’s family (her stepfather) She expected them to tell her the same thing.
Trinity Baptist Church has a message up on their home page stating that,
In reviewing the events of October 1997, the present leadership is seeking answers for the victim, our congregation, as well as our entire Concord community. The prayers of our entire church are for justice to be served to the alleged perpetrator, and that mercy and care will be extended to the victim.
Updated 7/8/10 – The case against Willis is now headed to a Grand Jury for indictment. Willis has waived his right to a preliminary hearing and remains free on bond.
Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult Survivors Facebook Group
