By Mia Gallegos | FāVS News Reporter
Four lawsuits have been filed against Faith Baptist Church (FBC) and Faith Baptist Academy (FA) in Spokane for allegedly failing to protect minors from sexual assault and battery while on the church and the school’s premises. The plaintiffs, now adults, are the minors represented in each lawsuit, all former members of the church.
The compilation of these lawsuits were encouraged through Josie Pickens’ and Kristie Vestal’s podcast “Cult Confessions,” a forum the two created to share their own traumatic experiences within Independent Fundamental Baptist churches and invite others with similar backgrounds to do the same. The podcast ran for around a year before being discontinued by its’ hosts.
All of the cases were filed within the Superior Court of Washington in the County of Spokane. Consistent across all of the suits is both FBA and FA included in the list of defendants, with individual perpetrators to follow. Another parallel across all suits is omission of the victims’ names, referring to them by their initials or “Plaintiff,” as they were minors at the time of their assaults.
Of these suits was one filed by Shelby McGee or S. M. She is a 29-year-old woman who formerly resided in Spokane and attended FBC and FA during her middle school years.
Former Pastor Boyle named in multiple suits
The suit, filed on May 13, also names Greg Boyle — former lead pastor of FBC who recently retired — and Daniel Kobernat as defendants. (Monday, FāVS News reported on her recently-released “Cult Confessions” podcast episode, which describes her alleged abuse in more detail.)
Kobernat, McGee’s alleged abuser, was the principal of FA, hired to “provide guidance, leadership, mentoring, counseling, supervision, teaching and all other roles consistent with his position as principal,” according to the facts of the case.
From the years of 2011 to 2013, a middle-school-aged McGee experienced “unwanted sexual advances” made upon her by Kobernat. According to the suit, FBC and FA “willfully knew” that Kobernat had engaged in “inappropriate sexual contact with young women” in the past, yet still hired him into a leadership role within the school and connected church.
“As a result, Faith Baptist made minor children of Faith Academy accessible and vulnerable to acts of pre-sexual grooming,” the suit stated.
The suit details that as principal, Kobernat was expected to behave in a way that was in accordance with the professions of the Christian faith. The case states that he “used his position as a spiritual leader to gain the trust of students … in order to posture his sexual advances in a non-dangerous (manner).”
The suit claims that FBC and Boyle “knew or should have known” that Kobernat needed to be considered a “serious threat” to the students he was being hired to oversee within his role.
The suit claims Boyle didn’t take any action upon noticing the potential dangers that would come with hiring an individual with such a background, and there was no system or procedure put in place to supervise Kobernat, which allowed him to get away with the years of alleged abuse.
McGee’s lawsuit also makes the claim that if it weren’t for the “negligent acts of Boyle, (McGee) would not have been subject to abuse suffered at the hands of Kobernat.”
She is demanding a trial by jury on all triable issues within her case. Rick Donley — the current pastor of Faith Baptist — along with Boyle, have been served with papers. Court case documents don’t show if Kobernat has received and accepted his summons as of this reporting.
D.H. lawsuit: Sexual assault on church premises
Another suit, filed a month earlier on April 14, names Samuel Hennings as the perpetrator and defendant within the case. The plaintiff, identified only as D.H., is suing the church and its academy and her abuser for reasons quite similar to McGee.
D.H., an adult female, experienced sexual assault and battery on the premises of FBC, claiming the church “(failed) to use reasonable care to protect the plaintiff from Henning(s), which allowed him to sexually batter her.”
The lawsuit states the acts committed against D.H. by Hennings’ sexual assault and FBC’s and FA’s alleged negligence to keep her safe and protected “go beyond all possible bounds of decency and (should) be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community” according to the suit.
Similar to McGee, the defendants in D.H. ‘s case have been served, with both FBC and FA having all future paperwork go to their legal representation Evans, Craven & Lackie, P.S. A case status conference for this suit is scheduled for July 18.
Josie Pickens, J.P., filed the third suit of the four on June 3. The individual named within her list of defendants is Daniel Cunning who, similar to the other cases, sexually abused Pickens on the premises of FBC when she was a minor.
Pickens’ abuse took place on a weekly basis between the winter of 2007 until the summer of 2011, in which Cunning “maliciously, willfully and forcibly groped, kissed and fondled (the) plaintiff.”
The suit claims that due to the “reckless, extreme, and outrageous conduct” on behalf of the institutions involved, Cunning was therefore able to gain access and freely abuse Pickens for the years that he did.
This abuse and her desire to bring justice to those who harmed her and others who stood by and allowed the abuse to go on were the inspiration behind “Cult Confessions,” her own story being one of the first to be shared on the podcast.
Cunning has yet to be served with papers. Rick Donley, the current pastor of the FBC, has received a summons on behalf of the church and of FA. Pickens’ case status conference is scheduled for Sept. 5.
The fourth and final case was filed on June 9 by plaintiff, identified as J.A. The individual defendants listed on the case are Boyle and Hunter Burton.
J.A. ‘s abuse took place at FBC’s Vacation Bible School (VBS) in 2014, which was held on the premises of the church. Burton worked as a VBS counselor during the August 2014 session, where he assaulted J.A., including inappropriate touching and the forced act of oral sex by the plaintiff upon the defendant.
Similar to the other suits, the acts committed by Burton were “unconsented” and “maliciously and willfully perpetrated.”
One of the causes of action in J.A.’s lawsuit was the alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit details the permanent injuries to the plaintiff’s physical and psychological health, causing a future of “severe pain and mental anguish.”
J.A.’s suit, like McGee’s, accuses FBC and Boyle of allegedly being aware, or that they “should have been aware,” of Burton’s “pederastic tendencies” and that children under his care would be vulnerable to them. The lawsuit also alleges “Boyle, prior to employing Burton, had knowledge of Burton’s prior unwanted sexual contact with minor children at a prior school.”
A similarity between this case and the others filed is how it lays out the various expenses the victim claims will likely accrue as a result of the mental and bodily damages caused by their perpetrator. These include doctor bills, psychological bills and other medical attention they may need in their healing process.
It explains that due to this, the plaintiff “has in the past and will in the future be hindered, hampered and prevented from carrying on (their) ordinary affairs and duties to the same extent and in the same manner (they were) able to prior to (their) said injuries.”
Cases in various stages of legal process
This case, being the most recent one filed doesn’t show a lot of progress. The defendants have yet to be served. J.A. is demanding a trial for all triable issues within the case.
While the specific abuser in each suit are different, all of them are suing FBC and FA. Two of them include Boyle.
Faith Baptist Church and Faith Academy, which are still in operation, have not released any statements of their own.
This is a developing story.
