New lawsuits allege Sacramento youth pastor victimized at least 9 boys decades ago

Two more lawsuits have been filed against a Sacramento youth pastor from the 1970s alleging he engaged in sexual battery of boys at two area church schools, and claiming that he began his practice of tying up young men for sexual gratification decades ago in Oklahoma.

The lawsuits, filed against David Arnold, Capital Christian School and the Arden Church of Nazarene, bring to at least nine the number of alleged victims of Arnold as he led youth groups and taught in schools and churches in Oklahoma and California.

“Arnold had a well-established modus operandi for his serial sexual abuse,” the suit against the Nazarene church on Arden Way says. “Using his position of power, authority, and influence, Arnold would groom minor boys and entice them into playing a ‘game’ he sometimes called ‘Hostage.’

“He would tie the children in restraints and offer them a money prize if they were able to escape. Over time, the rules of the game would change and Arnold’s depravity intensified. Ace bandages were replaced with duct tape and/or ski rope.

“Arnold would blindfold the children and play loud music to deaden their senses and the sounds of their struggle. Arnold would sexually gratify himself as he watched the children struggle to escape.”

Arnold denies claims, cites statute of limitations

That lawsuit was filed on behalf of Zach Steele, an Auburn businessman who first came forward last May, after The Sacramento Bee’s first report on allegations involving Arnold, who now lives in Oklahoma and left his post as an associate professor at Indiana Wesleyan University’s online school for adult and professional learners after The Bee began making inquiries about him.

Arnold has not responded to multiple emails and phone messages seeking comment, and did not reply to a voicemail left for him this week on a phone listed for him in court records.

In a court filing responding to the first lawsuit filed against him in April, Arnold was acting as his own attorney and denied the allegations, citing the statute of limitations.

He did not address the existence of a California law that gives childhood victims of sexual abuse until Dec. 31 to file lawsuits against their abusers.

Plaintiff says he was among Arnold’s first victims

Steele, who spoke to The Bee in interviews last April and May, said he believes he was Arnold’s first victim while a member of Arnold’s youth group at the Nazarene church, where Steele’s father was head pastor in the 1970s.

“He would invite me over to his apartment,” Steele said in a May interview. “I didn’t think anything of it. And then he came to me one day and he said, ‘Hey, you want to play a game?’ “And I go, ‘What’s the game?’ He goes, ‘Well, I call it hostage. ... I tie you up and I’ll pay you $10 if you can get out of the tie-up.’”

Eventually, Steele said the “game” evolved into him being tied up, blindfolded and gagged and lasted until 1979, when Steele was a high school junior.

His lawsuit alleges similar actions by Arnold and claims church leaders could have prevented the abuse if they had conducted a background check on Arnold before hiring him.

“These latest lawsuits are a prime example of what happens when institutions that exist to safeguard and educate children don’t do enough to protect them,” said attorney Brian Williams of Greenberg Gross LLP, who filed the suits along with attorney Michael Reck of Jeff Anderson & Associates, two firms that have specialized in pressing suits under the California Child Victims Act.

“The simple reality is that David Arnold was a prolific abuser who was left unchecked. Tragically, Arnold could have been stopped had the institutions that employed him acted appropriately and without regard to their own reputations. All of these lawsuits are designed to protect the next generation of kids by forcing real change. I could not be more proud of my clients for the bravery they have shown in bringing these past wrongs to light.”

Hogtieing boys and gagging their mouths

The Nazarene lawsuit described Arnold as “hogtieing boys” and “gagging their mouths,” then “deriving sexual pleasure at the sight of young boys struggling against their restraints.”

“Church of the Nazarene and Arden Church knew, or should have known, of this non-inclusive list of prior disqualifying misconduct by Arnold if it conducted any reasonable investigation of Arnold’s past,” the 21-page lawsuit says. “Instead, Church of the Nazarene and Arden Church ignored any reasonable protocol or procedure to screen potential youth pastors, such as Arnold, for propensity to sexually abuse children.”

Arden Nazarene and church officials at Nazarene headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas, did not respond to email requests for comment Tuesday. Arden Nazarene Pastor Jim Dorsey has previously said he knew nothing about the allegations or the individuals allegedly involved.

The lawsuit, which alleges negligent hiring and supervision and sexual battery, says Arnold’s abuse of boys he was teaching began in Bethany, Oklahoma, in the mid-1970s, where he was a coach and teacher at Bethany High School and a youth pastor at a Nazarene church there.

“While Arnold taught at Bethany High School, it is believed that Arnold engaged in the misconduct and abuse of at least two underage boys who were students of Arnold...” the lawsuit says, alleging that Arnold paid one money to wrestle with him and that Arnold tied him up with ski rope and duct tape.

Arnold took the second student to his apartment and tied him up, the lawsuit says, adding that the boy’s mother reported the incident and that “Arnold was fired in or around 1979.”

Steele has said he first met Arnold in Bethany and that when his father, Herbert, was offered a job at the Sacramento church he decided to finish out his freshman year in Oklahoma while his parents moved.

He stayed with family friends in Bethany for a few weeks until they left for a vacation, and then stayed with Arnold at his apartment, where Steele said nothing unusual happened.

The lawsuit says Steele and Arnold first met in 1976, where Arnold was his football coach and history teacher.

Steele rejoined his family in June 1977 after he completed his freshman year, and in 1979 the Arden Nazarene church recruited Arnold as a youth pastor and Arnold turned his attention to Steele, the lawsuit says.

Grooming began at youth group events, suit says

“After targeting Steele, Arnold began grooming him emotionally and psychologically during youth group events and beyond,” the lawsuit says. “Arnold singled Steele out for one-on-one attention above and beyond the norm for youth ministry education or counseling.”

The suit says Arnold was “effectively obsessed with Steele and obsessed with spending time with Steele, and would “regularly put Steele in headlocks and wrestle Steele despite Steele’s objections, in an apparent attempt to develop physical contact and submission.”

“A parishioner parent complained to Arden Church that Arnold was disproportionately spending time with boys rather than girls as youth pastor,” the lawsuit says. “After having gained Steele’s trust and submission to his authority, Arnold began intensifying his efforts to satisfy his perversions.”

This involved the “hostage game” and started with Arnold tying Steele up with Ace bandages at Arnold’s Bell Avenue apartment, according to the lawsuit and Steele.

“Arnold would then tell Steele he would be leaving the apartment to run an errand for 10-15 minutes and that, if Steele were successful in escaping his restraints by the time he returned, he would earn $10 for his efforts,” the suit says. “As the weeks progressed, Arnold began increasing the sadistic stakes of the game.

“Arnold strengthened the restraints from Ace bandages to ski ropes and began stuffing Steele’s mouth with dress socks. These acts were all done to satisfy Arnold’s perverted sexual desires.”

The “game” continued to escalate until Steele was overcome by panic, the suit says.

“On the last occasion, Arnold restrained Steele tighter than ever, blindfolded him, raised the volume, and purported to leave the apartment for an errand,” the suit says. “After some time, Steele began to panic and managed to start yelling for help.

“In a matter of seconds, Steele heard the sound of the door open. Arnold ‘returned’ and partially loosened Steele’s bindings. Steele immediately lowered his blindfold, and he saw Arnold walking away in his underwear, having apparently just finished sexually gratifying himself.”

Steele said he never told his parents about the incidents, and in 1980 Arnold became a football coach and adviser to the yearbook and school newspaper staff at Capital Christian School.

Second lawsuit targets Arnold, Capital Christian School

The first lawsuit filed against Arnold involves his time at Capital Christian and alleges he victimized five boys who were students there. The latest lawsuit adds a sixth former student, identified only as “John Doe,” a former Sacramento resident who now lives in Canada.

The latest lawsuit describe a similar series of actions by Arnold as alleged by the first five former students, including Arnold inviting the plaintiff to his apartment to grade test papers for money.

“He would lure Plaintiff to his apartment to do so,” the lawsuit says. “It under this context that the sexual abuse occurred.

“He threatened Plaintiff on multiple occasions that he would fail him if Plaintiff did not comply with the ‘game,’” and repeatedly removed the boy’s shirt and pants, blindfolded and gagged him and tied him to a chair.

The lawsuit says Arnold “would masturbate to the sight of Plaintiff trying to escape his restraints.”

“The gravity of the perverse sexual abuse endured by Plaintiff escalated over time,” the suit says.

The lawsuit blames Capital Christian founder and pastor Glen Cole for covering up Arnold’s alleged behavior to protect the school.

Capital Christian Center Pastor Rick Cole, the founder’s son, did not respond to an emailed request Tuesday for comment on the latest lawsuit, but he said last spring when the first suit was filed he became “nauseous” when he first heard the allegations.