Missouri Christian Camp Sued For Fraud After 2010 Child Sexual Abuse Case
The suit alleges that camp Kanakuk withheld key facts about the organization’s knowledge of convicted child sex abuser Paul Newman’s behavior and his pattern of sexual abuse while employed as a camp counselor.
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Logan Yandell, 27, filed a lawsuit last week against Kanakuk, a Christian sports camp in Branson, Missouri, accusing the camp of lying about its knowledge of abuse by former camp counselor Pete Newman when he settled a child sexual abuse suit with the camp over a decade ago, Gregory Holman reports for KSMU. Newman was convicted in 2010 of eight counts of sexual abuse and sentenced to two life sentences and the camp paid a settlement to Yandell that same year. Now, after additional accusations of sexual abuse against Newman have publically surfaced dating back to the 1990s, Yandell’s lawyers are accusing the camp of fraud for withholding information during the settlement case.
The suit alleges that Kanakuk withheld key facts about the camp’s knowledge of Newman’s behavior and his pattern of sexual abuse while employed as a camp counselor. In addition to a number of sexual abuse allegations going back decades, the suit points to previous reporting by journalist Nancy French that a Kanakuk staff member explicitly advised that Newman be fired due to his behavior and the accusations against him back in 2003, two years before Newman would meet Logan Yandell and allegedly begin his abuse.
