Sex Abuse Charges Refiled Against Pastor
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sex Abuse Charges Refiled Against Pastor*
By MARCUS KABEL
AP
PINEVILLE, Mo. - Child sex abuse charges have been refiled against the
leader of an isolated church commune, a month after the original case
was unexpectedly dropped by prosecutors.
Raymond Lambert, 52, was charged Monday with four counts of
second-degree child molestation, three counts of second-degree statutory
sodomy and one count of sexual abuse, according to court records.
Lambert is the pastor of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, a
live-in church community founded by his stepfather on a rural farm in
the Ozarks.
Two women, now ages 20 and 29, who left that community last year alleged
they were repeatedly abused from the ages of 12 to 16 by Lambert over
several years.
They told investigators that he sometimes told them he was "preparing
your body for service to God."
Lambert had pleaded not guilty to the original charges from August 2006.
His lawyer Robert Evenson did not immediately return a call for comment
Tuesday.
The renewed charges were filed a month after prosecutor Janice Durbin
dismissed all charges against Lambert; his wife, Patty Lambert; and
their sister-in-law Laura Epling, the wife of a church deacon.
Durbin has said the cases were dropped because of a technical issue.
Investigators alleged in court filings that Raymond Lambert used
religious rituals to molest and abuse several young girls, helped at
times by his wife and their sister-in-law.
The three were charged with counts alleging that they had abused young
girls for many years at the Baptist community in southwestern McDonald
County.
Raymond Lambert's uncle George Otis Johnston, who led a smaller
commune-style church in neighboring Newton County, is facing 17 felony
counts on suspicion of abusing two girls. He has pleaded not guilty.
The charges against Patty Lambert and Epling had not been refiled as of
Tuesday, according to court records. Durbin did not immediately return a
call seeking comment Tuesday.