A woman who says she was sexually abused hundreds of times by a former Salvation Army youth leader starting when she was 12 is set to take her case to trial next week in Pomona Superior Court, but new court papers from Salvation Army attorneys are raising pointed questions about who else should be blamed. The woman, identified in court records only as Jane Doe and now 32, filed her lawsuit in December 2022, alleging years of abuse that began on Salvation Army property and continued into adulthood.
According to mynewsla.com, Doe met her alleged abuser in 2004 or 2005, when she was 10 or 11 years old and he was a 34-year-old youth leader at the Pomona Corps, which she had been attending since she was 7. Court papers filed by Salvation Army attorneys on Sept. 30, just days before an Oct. 13 trial date, argue that Doe failed to sue other potentially responsible parties, including her foster father, her biological mother, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, and Bonita High School. The filing was submitted to Judge Allison L. Westfahl Kong.
Allegations Span Years and Multiple Locations
Doe alleges the abuse began in 2006, when she was 12, and continued for years, with one account describing it as persisting over the next six years, according to ministrywatch.com. The lawsuit claims the assaults numbered in the hundreds, occurring mostly on Pomona Corps grounds but also inside a Salvation Army organization van, and continued until Doe was a young adult. She alleges that other Salvation Army adult employees or agents were present on the premises during some of the assaults and should have been supervising her and the man accused of abusing her.
The lawsuit also alleges that the man groomed Doe by buying her gifts, taking her on outings, and asking her about boys, before eventually arranging for her to stay and live in his home with his wife. Doe is seeking damages for past and future psychological harm, including continuing extreme emotional harm she says she will suffer, but the filing specifies she is not seeking damages for out-of-pocket losses.
Defense Points to Other Alleged Failures
Salvation Army attorneys argue that Doe is instead suing an organization that sought to help her and her family while leaving out those they say actually harmed her. Court papers describe allegations that Doe's foster father sexually abused her for years, that her biological mother failed to protect her, that the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services placed and supervised her in the home of her alleged abuser, and that Bonita High School employed or worked with the alleged abuser during her time there. Doe has not named any of those parties as defendants in her suit, per the same account.
The Salvation Army's attorneys also state that the organization reported concerns about Doe's safety to authorities in 2006 and 2007 after receiving disclosures from her, and say it provided her and her family with food, shelter and friendship. The organization says it continues to cooperate with authorities seeking to have her alleged abuser jailed.
Conflicting Accounts of Named Defendants
Court filings described in separate accounts differ slightly on exactly who is named as a defendant. One report states the suit names the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army Southern California Division and the Salvation Army Corps Community Center Pomona, according to mynewsla.com. Another account describes the defendants as The Salvation Army Corporation, the Salvation Army Southern California Division, and individuals identified as Does 1 through 100 tied to the Pomona Corps Community Center, per ministrywatch.com.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Litigation
Doe's case is not the only lawsuit raising allegations against the Salvation Army in recent months. A second woman alleged she was attacked by the same Salvation Army employee who had previously been arrested over a sexual assault accusation at a Denver homeless shelter, according to The Denver Post. Separately, a lawsuit against the organization's southern and Kentucky/Tennessee divisions alleged it rehired a music director previously accused of abusing a minor, outlining past discipline and complaints, as reported by The Tennessean. In another case, after the Salvation Army settled with a woman abused as a teenager, her mother filed a new suit alleging retaliation, according to The Roys Report.
As of the Sept. 30 filing, Doe's case remained headed toward an Oct. 13 trial date in Pomona Superior Court. The dispute over which parties bear responsibility for what happened to her as a child remains unresolved heading into that proceeding.
