Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – A lawsuit filed in Craighead County Circuit Court by six women alleges that the former children’s minister of a Jonesboro church filmed, molested, and sexually abused young girls for around 15 years, and that church leadership did not take proper action.
The 72-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday, May 20, names the general council of the Assemblies of God, the Arkansas District Council of the Assemblies of God, and the Refuge Church of the Assemblies of God, Inc. in Jonesboro as defendants. Stephanie Davis, Samantha Davis, Elizabeth Dryer, Victoria Collins, Taylor Perrin, and Jane Doe 1 are named as plaintiffs.
According to the lawsuit, Anthony “Tony” Waller, former children’s minister at the church, abused the plaintiffs and other girls with his position of trust and power within the church. In 2016, Waller was sentenced to life in prison for two counts of rape. He’d been accused of raping two girls and possessing thousands of images containing child pornography, K8 News reported.
The lawsuit alleges that the church did not take proper reporting action regarding Waller’s abuse, saying church leadership was presented with evidence of his behavior as early as April 2000, and evidence of his crimes in 2004.
| ADD US ON GOOGLE NEWS: Click here to see more local news from Jonesboro Right Now
“They not only learned about but quite literally discovered and removed one of the hidden cameras Waller had installed in a bathroom used by young girls – a bathroom in which Waller made girls perform nude stretching exercises pursuant to a list of stretches he posted on the wall of the bathroom or anyone to see,” the lawsuit says. “To be as clear as possible, the Assemblies caught him red-handed; they had his camera; they had a list of nude stretches; they had statements from these Plaintiffs and their parents, as well as other girls and their parents; and yet they never stopped him or reported him.”
Church leadership did not contact police or make a report to the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline, nor did they fire Waller, the lawsuit said. It further stated that Waller was allowed to continue overseeing various children’s programs.
The lawsuit outlines a timeline spanning more than a decade during which church congregants and parents, as well as detectives with the Jonesboro Police Department, made church leadership aware of Waller’s behavior. The lawsuit says plaintiffs Stephanie Davis and Elizabeth Dryer, along with their mothers, reported to then-pastor Mike Glover about the hidden cameras and sexual abuse. Waller was suspended for two to four weeks before resuming his role, the suit says.
Later, in 2015, the lawsuit said Waller’s wife turned her husband in. It was after this, and after he was charged with numerous crimes, that the church fired Waller, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit further states that, in 2014, the general council of the Assemblies of God voted to adopt a policy in which pastors who engaged in child sexual abuse and pedophilia were not allowed to return to ministry. This policy did not apply to pastors who’d been reinstated to ministry after sexually abusing children, so long as they did not reoffend, the suit says.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a jury trial. The defendants have yet to file a formal response to the specific allegations outlined in the complaint.
K8 News reported in February that Glover was named in another lawsuit, filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, which alleges he and the church’s governing bodies knew Waller was sexually abusing two children and failed to report it.
The Assemblies of God, the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination, has been facing increased national scrutiny after an investigation by NBC News exposed hundreds of pastors, employees, and volunteers accused of sexual abuse across several decades, and revealed how leadership repeatedly resisted implementing mandatory background checks or reporting policies out of fear of legal liability.
In recent months, several class action lawsuits have been seeking additional victims looking to sue the denomination over cases of abuse.
| DAILY BRIEF: Sign up for the Jonesboro Right Now Daily Brief Newsletter