Victory Christian Staff Members Plead No Contest to Failing to Report Child Rape
This follows a pattern of church cover ups that you see in cases of child sexual abuse — leadership’s first instinct is to follow a theocratic direction and ignore the law, and that seems to cross denominations.
John and Charica Daugherty pleaded no contest on Friday to failing to promptly report child sex abuse.
The couple, who worked at Victory Christian as senior high youth pastors, held hands while entering their plea in Tulsa County District Court. A no contest plea is not admission of guilt, but does acknowledge that all the evidence is true.
The judge said it concerned him greatly the upper management of the church didn’t have more hands-on dealings with the reporting process, and said if it was up to him, he’d throw them in jail. But he said the evidence showed they had the least amount of direct dealings with the victims and suspects, so he gave them the option of 30 days in the county jail or a five-year deferred sentence.
John and Charica Daugherty are expecting a child, so it’s no surprise they said no to jail and yes to the judge’s rules of probation.
The judge ordered the Daughertys to create written policy on reporting future abuse immediately and share that plan with at least 20 other churches or organizations that are in charge of children.