Serial predator clergyman is exposed & sued

Despite earlier criminal conviction, he was sent to a new church

Church & school supervisors warned no one and he molested children again

Now, man who attended San Diego College is jailed as a "sexually violent predator"

SNAP to Protestant school & church: “Protect kids, NOT your image and secrets!”

WHAT:
After a sidewalk news conference, holding signs and children’s photos, clergy sex abuse survivors will
-- disclose a pending child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit against a college alum & minister who's a convicted sex offender,
-- blast school & church authorities for sending him, despite his criminal record, to work at an unsuspecting church,
-- urge university and church officials to 'come clean' about the cleric's crimes, and
-- prod them to aggressively seek out and help others who may have been hurt by the predator.

The group will also urge passersby to:
-- talk with friends, family and colleagues about the child molesting cleric and
-- beg anyone who saw or suspected his misdeeds to contact law enforcement

former students, faculty and employees

WHEN:
Monday, Sept. 21, 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:
Outside Point Loma Nazarene University, 3900 Lomaland Drive, San Diego (619-849-2200)

WHO:
3-5 clergy sex abuse victims who are also members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri woman who is the organization's national outreach director.

DETAILS:
Last year, a northern California family filed a civil lawsuit against the Nazarene Church and Point Loma Nazarene University for sending a once-convicted child molester to their unsuspecting Berkeley church where he sexually assaulted a three year old boy and a five year old girl. The predator, Steven Conrad Thomas, is now in prison.

In 1982, as a Point Loma Nazarene University ministry student, Thomas was sent to be the summer pastoral intern at Berkeley Church of the Nazarene, even though college and San Diego church staff knew he had a prior conviction for child sexual abuse. He was to live with a family with two young children. No university or church officials warned the parents. During that summer, Thomas sexually assaulted the kids in their own home, often while their parents were asleep.

SNAP has just learned about the lawsuit. The group suspects there may be others, in San Diego and elsewhere, who were assaulted by Thomas. SNAP feels it's the duty of church and college officials to disclose the lawsuit and actively urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered Thomas' crimes to call police and get help. Current and former Point Loma students and employees should especially be targeted for such outreach effort, SNAP maintains.

Thomas is listed on the state sex offender registry - http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/cgi/prosoma.dll?searchby=offender&id=1869408330713

The Nazarene Church is headquartered in Kansas City MO. http://www.nazarene.org/

The victims in civil litigation are represented by Newport Beach attorney Vince Finaldi (949 252 9990 office, 949 683 8737 cell), whose firm has handled hundreds of clergy sex abuse and cover up cases across the country. The defense lawyers are Thomas Rutherford and Scott Blackstone, of the now defunct Callahan, McCune & Willis, who represented the Orange County Catholic institutions that faced dozens of similar lawsuits.

This is the third case in the last two weeks in which SNAP has highlighted men who were found guilty of child sex crimes and were still hired later by Protestant churches despite their convictions. In this case, and a Minneapolis case, the predators went on to molest again.

CONTACT:
Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director 314 503 0003, Paul Livingston of San Diego, SNAP San Diego director 619 677 7133, Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP western regional director 949 322 7434, David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP national director 314 566 9790