Anti-Gay Rev, Bob Moorehead Fondled Young Men
Jesus Christ
Seattle Times
Thursday, February 19, 1998
Private investigator to probe Moorehead case
by Carol M. Ostrom and Alex Fryer Seattle Times staff reporters
Elders at Overlake Christian Church have hired a private investigator to
research allegations of sexual improprieties by the Rev. Bob Moorehead,
popular pastor of the state's largest nondenominational church.
Florida prosecutors have dismissed charges of lewd and lascivious conduct
stemming from Moorehead's arrest nearly two years ago in a beachfront
bathroom. But in a letter to Eastside church leaders earlier this week,
Moorehead said he is aware of separate allegations that he inappropriately
touched people - stories he insists are unfounded and "repulsive to me and
everything I have ever stood for."
The investigation apparently will focus on allegations that Moorehead
fondled young men against their will during the 1970s.
Among those who have talked to church leaders about the alleged incidents
is Jim Sinclair, one of the church's original associate ministers and a
former elder. Sinclair, who is no longer associated with the Redmond church,
told The Seattle Times he reluctantly became convinced over the course of 20
years that Moorehead had a problem with touching young men.
Current elders, meanwhile, say they support Moorehead and believe he is
innocent. But they think hiring a private investigator is the only way to
lift the "clouds of accusations" from their pastor, said Elder Gary Scott.
"What we're hearing is rumor and innuendo," Scott said.
The elders are giving the investigator, former Bellevue police detective
John Hansen, a free hand to investigate "any and all allegations" against
Moorehead, Scott said, and encouraging anyone with an allegation to contact
Hansen directly.
Moorehead denies he ever deliberately touched members of the congregation
inappropriately. In an interview earlier this month, he said that in 41
years as a pastor, he has touched perhaps 100,000 people in the course of
that ministry and it's not surprising if a few people might misinterpret
those touches.
Moorehead, 61, is known for his strong views condemning homosexual
activity and supporting conservative moral values.
After church services yesterday evening, Moorehead brought his wife on
stage with him and said he planned to fight the allegations.
"We are very much in love. We are very devoted to each other," he said.
"If I was ever going to inappropriately touch somebody, it would never be a
man. It would be a woman. The mess you will see on TV and in the Seattle
papers is unbelievably ridiculous."
But in a prepared statement, Moorehead said he supported the decision to
hire a private investigator. "I steadfastly maintain that I am innocent and
that these allegations are false," he said. "I have always conducted myself
properly and in the spirit of Christ. If the truth is uncovered, that's what
it will show."
Earlier this week, Moorehead resigned from the Eastside Pastors Steering
Committee, a group of evangelical ministers, telling the other pastors he
couldn't remain an effective member of the group in the face of continuing
media investigations.
The Rev. Jan Hettinga of Northshore Baptist Church said questions about
Moorehead have polarized the evangelical community. Some people are saying
"we've got a brother who is being ganged up on," while others believe "where
there's smoke, there's fire," he said.
Some of the allegations have lingered for decades.
Gary McLean, 43, says Moorehead touched him 25 years ago as he was
readying himself to be baptized before getting married. Then 18, McLean says
he was in the dressing room, changing clothes, when Moore head walked in,
put his hands down McLean's pants and fondled him. When McLean asked what he
was doing, Moorehead claimed he was "adjusting" him so he wouldn't "show
through" the baptismal gown, McLean said.
Stunned, McLean said he went through with the baptism and the marriage,
but soon took his complaint to someone in the church whose name he doesn't
remember. Nothing came of the complaint, and McLean left the church. A
couple of years ago, divorced from his first wife, he returned with his
fiancee, who was a member of the church.
"In order to feel comfortable with going back there, I knew I needed to
clear this up," he said. So he went to Sinclair, then a senior church
minister.
Sinclair asked him to put his allegations in writing, and to meet with
Moorehead himself. At the meeting, Sinclair and McLean said, Moorehead
denied he had touched McLean inappropriately.
Another alleged incident occurred around the same time. In 1973, Michael
Anderton, then 20, was about to be married. At a last-minute "pep talk,"
after straightening Anderton's tie and tux coat, Moorehead fondled him,
Anderton recalled.
"Everything inside me told me it wasn't unintentional," Anderton said.
"It was taking a liberty when the person is most vulnerable to not confront
you. I wasn't going to stop the wedding and I was new to the church."
Anderton met with an elder and then with Moorehead, who denied doing
anything inappropriate, Anderton recalled. "He said something like, `If I
did something that made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry.' But he never admitted
what he had done."
Sinclair said that in his two decades with the church, several young men
who said Moorehead touched them inappropriately had come to him. Others said
they had witnessed behavior that troubled them. Sinclair said he and his
wife, Virginia, personally witnessed what he described as unsettling actions
by the pastor.
Still, Sinclair said, he hesitated to come forward because he so strongly
wanted to protect the church and Moorehead.
"I have loved Bob as a brother," he said. "And one of the things about
Scripture is that love doesn't keep a record of wrongs. I have not made a
list and kept that agenda in front of me so one day I could get him. I'm not
out to get him now. I think his own struggle is getting him. Given enough
time, he's either going to start telling the truth or his own lies will
corner him."
The allegations of past behavior resurfaced after church members learned
that Moorehead had been arrested July 23, 1996, in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Police there said they observed Moorehead and another man masturbating in a
public restroom.
A deputy state attorney general dismissed charges in December 1996 and
later sent Moorehead a letter saying he had been exonerated because it was a
case of mistaken identity. At Moorehead's request, the court file was
sealed.
Last month, the Daytona Beach police chief said an internal investigation
showed Moorehead's arrest was not a case of mistaken identity, insisting
that officers had observed Moorehead masturbating and that the arrest was
proper.
The court file was unsealed two weeks ago, after a newspaper filed suit,
and documents showed that Moorehead had offered a plea of "no contest" while
insisting he was innocent.
Overlake elder Jim Bennetsen said the vast majority of church members
supported Moorehead after the Florida case was reported in Seattle-area
media. But some, he said, questioned why elders did not investigate the
incident themselves.
"A body of church leaders are not investigators," he said. "It was a lack
of knowledge, experience, about investigations."
Scott said the report by the private investigator will be released not
only to the elders, who function like a board of directors for the church,
but also to an oversight committee made up of leaders of other churches in
the area.
"This whole thing is affecting the whole Christian community, not just
Overlake," Scott said. "Anytime you have allegations against any Christian
pastor, it affects the credibility of the church at large."
Stan Summay
So? What is your point?
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