OKLAHOMA CITY – A civil lawsuit has been filed against a metro church and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
It follows the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl by a 35-year-old cook at Falls Creek last summer.
Court records indicate that Benjamin Petty has been charged with rape in Murray County.
Now, his alleged victim’s family is suing the church that brought her to the camp from Texas, along with Country Estates Baptist Church in Midwest City and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
The victim’s family says all of the organizations failed to perform background checks, which may have protected the teen.
“Minimal effort on the part of the Defendants- before and/or during the camp- would have revealed that Petty was not an appropriate adult candidate to bring to , or remain at, the camp. In fact, Petty was a convicted criminal and it was readily apparent that he was involved in a lifestyle contrary and repugnant to the values espoused by the BGCO, Country Estates, Terrell and Falls Creek,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit claims Petty was allowed to prey on the victim for days before the alleged rape, spending time alone with her without any supervision.
Court documents show that the victim says that Petty told her he was going to show her how to perform tricks on a device he brought to the camp when he suddenly pulled her into his cabin.
“Petty closed the door to his bedroom, tied [victim’s] hands behind her back, pulled down her jeans, pushed her face down on his bed, and violently raped and sodomized her,” the document states.
The lawsuit is asking for more than $75,000 from each defendant in the case.
The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma told NewsChannel 4 in a statement, “Although Falls Creek is not responsible for the alleged behavior, the allegations are deeply disturbing and we are looking into them.”
