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Sean Murphy
Oklahoma City (AP) — Capitol before he became the protagonist For Hill's conservative purposes, US Senator James Lankford has been the director of youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a vast campsite about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City. After spending more than that, I fascinated more than 50,000 campers from 6th grade to 6th grade. 12 every year.
Republican tenure at the camp is a salient feature of his political profile as described in the first paragraph of his official Senate biography. The experience is also under new scrutiny as the Southern Baptist Convention, which is affiliated with the group that owns the camp, faces consideration of the handling of sexual abuse cases.
In 2009, when Rankford was working in the camp, a family of 13-year-old girls sued a 15-year-old boy who allegedly had sex with her in the camp. Rankford, who was not present in Congress at the time, was not claimed to have had direct knowledge of the alleged assault, was not charged with fraud, and was not a defendant in the proceedings. He was going to trial.
However, in the 2010 deposit of this case, a week after he was elected to his first term in the US House of Representatives, Rankford agreed with a 13-year-old man. He testified that he believed he could. For sex.
"Yes, I think I can," Rankford told the girl's family lawyer, Kenyatta Bethea, according to the Associated Press's 155-page deposition.
The age of consent in Oklahoma is 16 and there are exceptions to the law of minors between the ages of 14 and 17 who have sexual contact, but there is no provision for the age of 13. You can agree to sex. "If I ask you that question about your father's position," Rankford maintained his stance when Bethea pushed if his answer was still the same.
"Yes, you can," he said.
At the age of 13, Rankford gave a broader answer under the additional question of whether to allow two daughters to agree to sex. Did.
"No, I don't encourage it at all," he said. "Can she make that choice? I hope she doesn't, but I never encourage it with my daughter."
Formal legal It is unknown whether the untrained Rankford knew the age of consent at the time of the testimony. It is also unclear if a criminal accusation was filed against a 15-year-old boy. The phone message left to Murray County District Attorney Craig Rudd was not returned.
Testimony has surfaced before Tuesday's primary for the Republican Senate nomination, which allows Rankford to seek another term. After his early concerns that he could be vulnerable to his right-hand challenge, he participates in the election in a strong position. The primary winners head for the fall general election, which is overwhelmingly popular in this deep Republican state.
Lankford spokeswoman for the reelection campaign, Aly Beley, declined to comment on this story.
The revelation of Rankford's testimony is at a difficult moment for the Southern Baptist Convention.
According to a bitter research report conducted by an independent company, top SBC leaders hinder and despise survivors of clerical sexual abuse while preserving their reputation. I found out. In response, the SBC voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to track pastors and other members of the Church who were accused of being sexually abused and credible, and launched a task force to oversee the further reforms of the country's largest Protestant sect. I launched it.
This is not the first case of sexual assault at Fall Creek, a 400-acre campsite in the Arbuckle Mountains. The camp is now called the Oklahoma Baptist and is owned by the Oklahoma Baptist General Assembly, which is part of the SBC.
Benjamin Lauren Spetti pleaded guilty in 2018 for raping a 13-year-old Texas girl in a camp. According to investigators, Petty, a cook at the camp, tied a rope to her girl's wrist, raped her, and threatened to hurt her if she told anyone. Petty was finally sentenced to probation in this case, and the civil proceedings filed by the girl's family against the Baptist General Assembly in Oklahoma were resolved. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Rankford was not working in the camp when the attack occurred.
According to court records, Rev. Loriwalk, a lawyer and senior minister of the Mayflower Congregation Church in Oklahoma City, acted as an adlite to the guardian of a girl in Texas during a civil proceeding. Walk refused to talk about the details of the incident, but she said she attended Fall Creek as a young girl and was seriously concerned about how the camp was run.
"Even as a kid, I find that there are some things that make me sick," Walk said. "This true obsession with pure culture is overwhelming. Especially the rules about dressing for girls were just obsessed."
"And, generally speaking, everything else. The real lack of surveillance in the issue of, "she added. "It was absolutely due to the fact that there weren't enough adults around."
The Oklahoma Baptist answered a question about how many cases, including sexual misconduct at Fall Creek, were resolved. did not. In a statement, Managing Director Todd Fisher said a recent vote to approve the recommendations from the SBC's Task Force would bring about national reforms that needed.
"Oklahoma Baptists are already taking important steps to prevent abuse in Oklahoma and are grateful that all ministries and agencies, including camps, are implementing many best practices. "Fisher said.
Oklahoma Baptist spokesman Brian Hobs said that Fall Creek's best practices include mandatory background checks for people over the age of 18, enhanced security, and everything else. He said it would include professionally developed safety training for camp staff and church leaders. He brings the group to camps and protocols for reporting abuse or suspicion of abuse.
During the testimony, Rankford admitted that the director was not perfect, but said he had no problem sending his daughter to the camp, even when he was absent. rice field.
"I know that our adults care about our children, but the process clearly speculates how all adults treat it. You can't, "Rankford said.
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