Abuser kept job at Modesto church for 3 years after teen reported molestation, lawsuit says
Carl Epperson said when he was 13-years-old he was molested by a youth pastor at his Modesto church.
The abuse was reported to church leaders and the Modesto Police Department but the youth pastor, Robert Chapman, wasn’t fired or arrested.
Instead, Epperson said church leaders blindsided him by bringing him into a room with his alleged abuser, who got to tell “his side of the story,” and the detectives assigned to the case treated him like a suspect by questioning his sexuality and threatening him with juvenile hall if he was lying.
During the following three years, Chapman molested at least two more boys until he was arrested and convicted in 1987.
More than 30 years later, Epperson and another man who was molested by Chapman, Larry Spencer, are suing the church, claiming those who ran it failed to protect them when they were boys.
It’s the third lawsuit against CrossPoint Community Church, formally First Baptist Church, alleging its leaders covered up childhood sexual abuse by its employees for more than a decade.
The church already settled with one victim, Jennifer Roach, in the amount of $267,500 for abuse by youth pastor Brad Tebbutt in the late 1980s. In October, it was served with a second lawsuit by Tracy Epler, who said she was abused by a different youth pastor, Les Hughey, in the 1970s.
The abuse “could have been prevented completely if people did their jobs and meant what they said when they said their priority is protecting children, not protecting abusers,” said Maricar A. Pascual, an attorney with the law offices of Joseph C. George, who is representing the men.
The Sacramento-based firm, which specializes in sexual abuse cases, has represented all of the plaintiffs in the suits against CrossPoint.
The complaint filed in Stanislaus Superior Court on behalf of Epperson and Spencer in February alleges negligent supervision or retention of an employee, negligent supervision of the plaintiffs when they were minors, failure to report childhood sexual abuse and childhood sexual abuse.
Chapman had only been employed at the church a few months as an organist when he asked the youth leaders if he could take on a role as a youth pastor, Pascual said.
Epperson said he’d heard Chapman specifically asked to work with boys.
According to the complaint, Chapman led a “Disciples Group ... which was supposedly to help young teen boys with issues related to reaching puberty.”
In April 1983, Chapman recruited Epperson and another boy to help him keep watch and prevent vandalism of a large tent that was set up on the church grounds for an upcoming event. After keeping watch, the boys went to sleep in Chapman’s camper, where Epperson was awakened by Chapman rubbing his chest, according to the complaint.
“(Chapman) subsequently fondled and masturbated (Epperson),” the complaint says.
Report made to First Baptist, Modesto Police
About four months later, Epperson told his girlfriend what happened and she told Epperson’s mother, who reported the abuse to the church hierarchy and the Modesto Police, according to the complaint.
Epperson said on Aug. 28, 1983, his 14th birthday, he and his father were called to a meeting at the church with the lead pastor, two youth pastors and Chapman, who denied anything happened.
At the end of the meeting “I remember them shaking my dad’s hand and telling him, ‘We have to stand behind our man until we hear otherwise,’ ” he said.
Not long after, two detectives showed up at Epperson’s school, pulled him out of class and interrogated him, according to the complaint.
“Those two events really changed who I was,” Epperson said. “At that age I got a very clear view of how the police acted and people who I thought were God fearing folks acted, and it made me think the world is a corrupt place.”
The detectives told Epperson that Chapman had passed a lie detector test and that he also could take one, but he would be arrested if he failed, the complaint says.
“They said I would be serving three to five years in California Youth Authority if I was lying,” Epperson said. “They asked, ‘Did you like it? Did you enjoy it? Did you ever think you might be homosexual?’ I remember telling myself, ‘You know what happened, don’t let these guys falsify what you know is true.’ ”
The detectives closed the case as unfounded and Chapman maintained his position at the church.
“Accordingly, (Chapman) continued to have access to sexually abuse minors, including (Larry Spencer), until another police report was made” three years later, according to the complaint.
During those three years, Larry Spencer was molested an average of two times a month, according to the complaint.
When reached by phone in May, Spencer did not comment for this story but told The Bee in a 2018 interview that he was 13 when he was first molested during a sleepover hosted by Chapman.
The evening discussion was about puberty and masturbation, Spencer said. Then they watched movies and drifted off to sleep.
Spencer, like Epperson, said he woke up to Chapman touching him.
Chapman continued molesting him, in the car while giving him rides home from church, and in the swimming pool during youth activities, Spencer said.
It was in 1986 when he saw Chapman become inappropriate with his younger foster brother that Spencer decided to come forward.
‘Enough is enough’
“I said, ‘Enough’s enough. This guy’s going to screw somebody else up,’ ” Spencer said.
That time, Chapman was prosecuted. He was charged with molesting Spencer, Epperson and another boy.
Pascual said the third victim might also join the civil lawsuit but has not yet decided.
A negotiated deal ended with Chapman pleading guilty to two counts of child molestation in return for a 300-day term in County Jail.
Chapman, who is now in his 80s and still living in Modesto, told The Bee this month that he hadn’t yet been served with the civil complaint. He declined to comment further.
The complaint was filed in February but the defendants were listed in it as Does. Pascual confirmed CrossPoint Community Church and Chapman are the defendants and said they will be served when she files the amended complaint soon.
CrossPoint’s lead pastor, Matt Whiteford, did not respond to a request for comment.
Law signed by Newsom paves way for suit
Normally the statute of limitations would have expired to file civil lawsuits in these decades-old cases but a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October opened a three-year window for the revival of past claims.
Assembly Bill 218 also permanently extends the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file a lawsuit from age 26 to age 40 or within five years — formerly three years — from the date of discovery of an adult psychological injury caused by the childhood sexual assault.
Pascual said a similar law in the past only allowed a 1-year window but three years give victims better opportunity to hear others’ stories and realize they aren’t alone.
“The thing we see time and time again when survivors are courageous enough to speak is that more survivors say ‘Me, too.’ ”
Epperson said when he learned there were other victims, it “made a world of difference to know I wasn’t the only one, as screwed up as it sounds.”
Epperson, who now lives in Arkansas, said his father sent him The Modesto Bee story in which Roach first detailed her abuse. Spencer was also interviewed for that story.
He said he’s ready to be heard in a way he wasn’t so many years ago.
The abuse and the way it was handled by the church and police, Epperson said, has stayed with him and impacted many facets of his life.
He said he has trouble trusting other people and trusting the decisions he makes. While he said he still has faith in God, he doesn’t trust religion institutions and has a difficult time letting his three teenage children go to church.
He said coming forward as a 13-year-old boy was difficult.
“It was not something I wanted to talk about; I wanted to bury it, I wanted believe it didn’t happen.” Epperson said, But “I had a lot of faith and trust in things I don’t anymore.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
