Heath Woolman, the previous chief of employees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Value, is accused of instructing the varsity’s dean of girls to make a sexual abuse report “go away,” in response to an announcement from the seminary’s president Wednesday.
Final week, federal prosecutors charged Matthew Queen, a former professor and interim provost for the seminary, with falsifying information and notes associated to a sexual misconduct report that led to an arrest of a scholar in January 2023. Now, seminary President David Dockery has named the opposite staff concerned within the case.
The case is an element of a bigger ongoing investigation into the Southern Baptist Conference and the way the group and its affiliated entities deal with experiences of abuse. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Value is one in every of six seminary faculties operated by the Southern Baptist Conference.
Dean of girls Terri Stovall, referenced as “Employee-1” within the court docket information, acquired a report in November 2022 {that a} then-seminary scholar had dedicated sexual assault towards an “individual unaffiliated with the seminary.” In January 2023, Stovall mentioned a doc she ready relating to the incident with Woolman, then chief of employees for the seminary and within the presence of Queen.
Stovall stated Woolman instructed her to make a doc relating to a sexual assault report “go away” throughout a dialog the place Queen was current.
Woolman denied Stovall’s accusations in a follow-up dialog with Dockery, Dockery stated. Woolman served as chief of employees from March 2022 to Could 2023, college officers stated. He’s now lead pastor at a church in Florida. He couldn’t be reached for remark at time of publication.
In his assertion, Dockery stated he supplied a “brief affirmation” of Woolman’s candidacy for his present pastor place final yr. If requested to supply the identical suggestion at present, Dockery stated, he wouldn’t be capable to present one given the knowledge he is aware of now.
“This episode is a matter of deep regret to me,” Dockery stated. “I am, however, grateful that several employees in whom I placed great trust acted responsibly, especially Terri Stovall. I commend the service and integrity of these employees. We remain resolute to continue to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice in all aspects of this investigation.”
Prosecutors haven’t introduced expenses towards Woolman. Queen’s indictment was the primary official acknowledgment by the DOJ of an investigation into the Southern Baptist Conference and the way the group and its affiliated entities deal with experiences of abuse. As a part of that investigation, a grand jury subpoena was issued to a seminary in October 2022.
Queen is charged with one depend of falsification of information, which carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail. Queen is accused of falsely stating he had not heard Woolman’s instruction throughout a Could 2023 interview with the FBI. The next month, Queen testified underneath oath that he had heard the dialog.
U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated in an announcement that Queen “attempted to interfere with a federal grand jury investigation by creating false notes in an attempt to corroborate his own lies.”
Queen was placed on administrative depart and resigned as interim provost after the seminary realized about Queen’s actions in June 2023, college officers stated. He has pleaded not responsible to the fees and was positioned on depart from the North Carolina church the place he has served as pastor since February.
“As a Christian, a seminary professor, and now a pastor, my integrity is everything to me and I will cling to that integrity and seek to be vindicated by God and man,” Queen stated in an announcement by way of his lawyer. “Until that day, I do not intend to comment or discuss this matter further.”
Southern Baptists are the biggest evangelical Protestant group within the U.S., in response to Pew Analysis Middle. Over 278,000 folks in Tarrant County determine as Southern Baptist, in response to 2020 information from the Affiliation of Faith Information Archives.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, protecting religion for the Fort Value Report. You’ll be able to contact her at [email protected] or @marissaygreene. On the Fort Value Report, information choices are made independently of our board members and monetary supporters. Learn extra about our editorial independence coverage right here.
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“Well bless their hearts.”
