Before coronavirus crisis, Roseville church faced another challenge: Sex abuse lawsuit

Before Pastor Doug Bird injected his Roseville church into controversy by refusing to shut down services during the coronavirus pandemic, Abundant Life Fellowship was facing another challenge: a lawsuit alleging a youth events director at the church had repeatedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy who was a church member.

The lawsuit, which is pending in San Bernardino Superior Court, names the church and former youth director Cornell Howard, who is accused in court documents of repeatedly assaulting the teen, who the suit says was born in 1995 and joined the church as a sixth-grader in 2007.

The first attack came after a church-sponsored youth ministry trip to Mexico in 2011, the suit says.

“When the ALF kids arrived in California upon the conclusion of that trip, Howard took plaintiff to Howard’s home and sexually assaulted him,” the lawsuit says. “The attack left plaintiff ashamed, embarrassed and confused and humiliated.”

The suit also claims Howard continued to prey on the boy, assaulting him “in public parks, in parked cars and at Howard’s home.”

Howard, reached Monday at the Rancho Cucamonga family therapy agency where he answers phones, said he did not want to discuss the allegations. Howard said he had worked at the church for “probably a decade” but would not comment further.

Bird, who has blamed the media, including The Sacramento Bee, and social media commenters for stirring controversy about the church, responded to a phone message left for him Tuesday by texting that he could not take calls and asked for a text message.

When The Bee replied asking about the lawsuit, he texted back: “I can’t talk now maybe next week. Is a physical issue.”

Suit: Church ‘took no action’

Lawyers for the church filed documents in court last May declaring that the victim’s suit “clearly has no facts that would allow him to allege intentional acts by ALF.” While the now 25-year-old victim is named in the suit, The Bee does not name individuals who may be victims of sexual assault.

The lawsuit claims that Howard groomed the boy for a number of years during events at the church and at his home.

“Howard engaged in activities designed to gain plaintiff’s trust, and access to him; he offered plaintiff special attention, understanding and a sympathetic ear,” the suit says. “Howard created an air of secrecy around the relationship, reinforcing his connection with plaintiff through, among other things, private communication networks, before and then while Howard initiated sexual contact with plaintiff.”

The lawsuit says ALF had a youth drama group referred to as “The Unit” that the boy joined in 2010 and that meetings were held at the church and at Howard’s home “to do filming.”

“Howard spoke to plaintiff of sexual matters, and allowed plaintiff to sleep in his house,” according to the suit, which was filed by Santa Ana attorney Gregory Rizio.

The suit also names Howard’s supervisor at the church, Mark Holliday, for allegedly failing to properly manage Howard during youth events sponsored by the church. Holliday could not be reached Tuesday. One phone number listed for him is disconnected; another rang busy continually.

The suit also alleges that Howard engaged in “prior sexual misconduct” with another 16-year-old boy, and that the church “took no action to investigate or otherwise provide protection from Howard to anyone...”

“Holliday and ALF (through Doug Bird, the executive pastor at ALF) thereby approved and ratified Howard’s pattern and practice of sexual misconduct ... of the youth ministry at ALF, and are thus equally liable with Howard for plaintiff’s damages,” the lawsuit says.

There is no record of criminal charges being filed in connection with the allegations in Placer County, and Roseville police could not immediately say whether an investigation had been conducted.

Until last Sunday, Bird had been adamant that he would not halt services at his Atlantic Street church near downtown Roseville, despite orders from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and county health officers for citizens to avoid large gatherings.

Threats against church

He held a Palm Sunday service for dozens of parishioners, and announced during the two-hour service that he had decided to agree to an email from the county encouraging him to suspend further in-person services because of the pandemic.

But his stance has generated hundreds of critical comments online and, on Monday, a U.S. Postal Service package arrived at the church addressed to Bird.

Bird said at the time that his secretary was suspicious of the package and called him late Monday.

“I said don’t open that, I’ll be in tomorrow,” Bird said, adding that when he looked at it he recognized the name as matching that of someone who had posted critical comments online.

Bird said he took the package outside the church for safety.

“I was on my knees with that box outside, just barely cut the tape on it and let the lid pop open and I took a pair of scissors and just barely lifted the lid up,” Bird said. “And when I did I just caught a glimpse of something that looked like a bomb with wiring on it and I took off running.”

Roseville police shut down traffic for hours near the church, which sits across from Roseville High School, and the bomb squad eventually determined there were no explosives in the package.

Roseville police spokesman Rob Baquera said Wednesday that police still had not determined whether the package was sent as a threat.

“We were able to identify what was inside the box, which was a whip with spikes on it,” he said. “We still have not got to the point where we determine whether this was sent to send a message. Was this sent as a threat? Or was this just sent based on the fact that we’re coming up to the Easter holiday and maybe it was just someone sending it to the church?

“There were no explosives, there was no threatening letter, just these pieces of symbolism. It’s an unknown the intent of them being delivered to to the church.”

The package is not the first time the church has faced threats according to Placer Superior Court records.

Bird filed for restraining orders last year against a former member of the church’s men’s group who had allegedly threatened the church with harassing messages, including one posted on a ministry leader’s online page with the message #massshootings, court records say.

“The messages include direct threats or insults towards my wife and I and our church and ministries,” Bird wrote. “(Lewd) comments, suggestive comments about (pedophilia) and more.”