Minister gets $142K in bogus sex abuse claims settlement

Sep. 5--Unfounded allegations of abuse against a Centerville minister have led Crawford County Children and Youth Services to agree to an out-of court settlement in a federal suit alleging the man's right to due process had been violated.

As a result of the settlement, Rev. Rudolph Babcock will receive $142,500, the policies governing the investigation and handling of sensitive allegations by CYS will be systematically revised and the agency must issue a public apology, according to Timothy McNair, Babcock's attorney.

Following an agreement to the terms of the settlement by Babcock, CYS and CYS employees Sheila Thornton and Amy Schweter, who were named individually in the suit, a stipulation for dismissal notice was signed by Judge Susan Paradise Baxter of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 23.

The resolution in the case brings to an end what Babcock on Wednesday described as a horrible experience.

"In the settlement, I said I wouldn't disparage them in any way," Babcock said from Community Bible Church, where afterschool youth group activities were wrapping up, "but, I mean, it's really terrible to be accused of sexually abusing a child."

McNair emphasized the defamatory effect of such accusations.

"You put something out like this in public, and it destroys a reputation instantly," he said.

According to a statement from CYS, which McNair provided to the media, in April 2017 the agency obtained an order against Babcock from Crawford County Court of Common Pleas.

The order prohibited Babcock, whose ministry focuses largely on serving youth, from having any unsupervised contact with minors, according to McNair.

The order was "based on a report of alleged physical abuse of a child that was later determined to be unfounded," according to the CYS statement. The agency also "added an allegation of sexual abuse of a child in their request to the court although no sexual abuse report was made to CCCYS."

The statement goes on to state that CYS failed to ensure the order would remain confidential and concludes, CYS "sincerely apologizes to Rev. Dr. Rudolph Babcock for any harm he has suffered as a result."

The statement was signed by Frank Kasper, associate director of CYS. A message left for Kasper Wednesday afternoon was not returned immediately.

Gail Kelly, director of Crawford County Human Services, which includes CYS, declined to comment on the settlement and directed inquiries to G. Jay Habas, the lawyer who represented CYS, Thornton and Schweter. Kelly declined to comment on whether Thornton and Schweter, the two CYS employees named individually in the lawsuit, remain with the agency.

Multiple Tribune attempts to reach Habas on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Commissioner Chairman Francis Weiderspahn Jr. acknowledged the settlement and, like Kelly, directed inquiries to Habas, saying the terms included an agreement "that there'd be no comment from the county."

Commissioners Christopher Soff and John Amato similarly referred questions to Habas and cited lack of knowledge of the settlement details.

The lawsuit Babcock filed in March 2018 resulted from a series of events nearly a year earlier. Babcock learned of the accusations against him on a Sunday in late April as he pulled into the parking lot of his church aboard a school bus loaded with children being taken to church activities. Spotting an unfamiliar woman in the parking lot, Babcock was eager to meet her.

"I thought she was a new member," he said. "I was really excited to jump off the bus and meet this new person coming to the church."

The woman, Babcock said, was Schweter. Rather than joining the church, she was there obtain Babcock's signature acknowledging a court order prohibiting him from having unsupervised contact with children. Babcock referred Schweter to his attorney, entered the church and proceeded with the day's services.

Schweter was in the parking lot again as those services ended -- this time accompanied by a state trooper, "lights blazing," according to a press release from McNair.

At the time, according to McNair, CYS knew that a claim of physical abuse against Babcock had proven to be unsubstantiated. Nonetheless, the lawsuit alleged, in obtaining the court order a CYS employee told the Crawford County Court of Common pleas that two children who attended the church had lodged physical and sexual abuse allegations against Babcock.

As the statement McNair provided from CYS states, "no sexual abuse report was made" to the agency.

For Babcock, the most important element of the settlement was the agreement by CYS to change its policies on handling such investigations.

"Part of me wanted to hold out and go to trial -- I was pretty sure of getting a favorable jury verdict," the 71-year-old Conneaut, Ohio, resident said. But even if successful, he said, a trial might not have resulted in systematic changes in CYS.

"I really wanted to bring change," Babcock said. "The things they were doing -- they weren't correct."

Among the changes, McNair explained, are requirements that CYS communicate with the lawyers representing people who become the subjects of investigations, increased safeguards on confidentiality and greater efforts to ensure that subjects of investigations are properly informed of court proceedings related to the investigation.

Though the order against Babcock was lifted a week later when the allegation proved to be unsubstantiated, Babcock did not learn the order had been lifted for more than six months despite repeated requests for information from CYS, the lawsuit alleged.

"As a pastor in the community, that's what I felt was important -- to try to change things for the better," Babcock said of the policy changes to which CYS agreed. "We want to protect kids, but if you're not doing things correctly, you're not protecting children either."

Mike Crowley can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.

___

(c)2019 The Meadville Tribune (Meadville, Pa.)

Visit The Meadville Tribune (Meadville, Pa.) at meadvilletribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.