Fellowship Bible Church denies trying to hide boy's rape

After a family filed a $37.5 million lawsuit against a Brentwood church for negligence in the sexual assault of their 3-year-old son, the church has issued a response.

According to a lawsuit filed Monday, the family's son was raped by a male teenage volunteer in a bathroom of Fellowship Bible Church of Williamson County during church on Aug. 24, 2014. The teenager pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual battery.

The lawsuit alleges the church urged the family to not pursue charges and asked them to attend another church campus.

The lawsuit further states that the church "sought to hide the truth about the perpetrator pedophile and about the rape of (the 3-year-old) from other families.”

But in a statement to its congregation, Fellowship Bible Church Pastor Bill Wellons wrote that those allegations are false.

Wellons wrote that the teen volunteer, along with his parent, were "immediately removed from their volunteer positions in our church pending the police investigation."

"We are outraged that this heinous crime occurred," Wellons wrote. "It came to our attention when the victim’s family advised our staff, and we immediately reported it to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and that same morning contacted officers from the Brentwood Police Department. (The authorities asked for our cooperation in keeping the matter confidential so that they could complete their investigation, and, of course, we agreed)."

The family left their son at the children's ministry while worshipping on the morning of Aug. 24, but they weren't aware of the sexual assault until the next weekend, according to the lawsuit.

Brentwood Police Department Assistant Chief Tommy Walsh confirmed in an email Wednesday that the incident was reported to police on Aug. 31, 2014.

Given the nature and confidentiality of the incident, DCS could only confirm that it was alerted to the incident and that investigators opened an inquiry, but could not confirm a date on when it was reported.

Wellons also stated that the church has "endeavored to work with the victim’s family, offering counseling and any other assistance they might find helpful. They have chosen, instead, to file a lawsuit."

The family, represented by Kathryn Barnett of Morgan & Morgan, is suing Fellowship Bible Church for the negligent failure to provide a safe environment for a child. They had been members of the church for 12 years.

The lawsuit alleges the church failed to ensure adequate screening and supervision for its staff and volunteers and did not install adequate security measures in its classrooms.

After communicating with parents and local authorities, Wellons stated the incident was a "one-time, isolated event" and the church takes any allegation of abuse seriously.

"We have no tolerance for anyone who seeks to harm a child in a physical, sexual, or emotional way," Wellons wrote.

The lawsuit alleges the church's training video for its volunteers devotes less than 45 seconds to the topic of preventing child molestation. The lawsuit further states that the church "tried to blame the (family) for what happened, insisting the horrors their son described must have been something he heard at home."

Wellons says the church did not try to deny what happened.

"I am distressed that statements in the news media, quoting from the lawsuit, have been so erroneous — that we denied anything had happened, that we claimed the victim had 'lied' and urged the family not to pursue criminal charges, that we don’t take child safety seriously and have no proper policies and procedures, and that we sought to hide the truth from other families," he wrote. "All of these statements are untrue."

According to the lawsuit, the family is seeking damages of $37.5 million. The family is seeking $22.5 million for the victim, as well as $5 million each for the husband, wife and their daughter, who also attended church on Aug. 24, 2014.

“To me, it’s incredibly important that every church and every child care facility has a wake-up call, and this should be it now. No one should think it can’t happen to them or happen to someone in their community," said Barnett, managing partner of Morgan & Morgan's Nashville office. "Before going to any church or child care facility, I would advise families to ask what the screening process is, what kind of training does the staff have and what is the source of the training. You want to make sure all those steps are being taken."

Wellons wrote that the church will take all steps to prevent any abuse from happening in the future.

"Please know that we are personally sickened by this crime and will strive to do all in our power as leaders to prevent this grotesque criminal behavior from occurring again," he wrote.

Reach Collin Czarnecki at 615-852-1130 and on Twitter @CollinReports.