LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former pastor of a megachurch in Riverside has been accused in lawsuits of sexually abusing and trafficking children over several years at a shelter he operated in Bucharest. The claims were made by two Romanian men in the U.S. District Court of California.
The lawsuits were filed on Tuesday by Marian Barbu, 33, and Mihai-Constantin Petcu, 40. They alleged that Paul Havsgaard, a former pastor and missionary with Harvest Christian Fellowship, subjected them and numerous other children to severe abuse over an eight-year period. The church’s founder and senior pastor, Greg Laurie, along with other senior leaders, are also named for failing to stop the abuse.
According to the lawsuits, Havsgaard attracted vulnerable street youths with promises of fast food, shelter, and education. Jef McAllister, a lawyer based in London representing Barbu and Petcu, stated that the men continue to experience trauma and social issues, describing them as “hurt, angry, and still suffering from PTSD.”
The Associated Press typically does not disclose names of individuals claiming to be sexually abused unless they publicly identify themselves, as Barbu and Petcu have chosen to do.
The church has not provided contact details for Havsgaard, and attempts by The Associated Press to reach him via email and phone numbers found online were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Harvest Christian Fellowship expressed shock at the allegations but emphasized that the lawsuit wrongly targets the church and its renowned founding pastor instead of focusing on Havsgaard.
“This misguided lawsuit unjustly targets Harvest Riverside and our pastor in a bid for financial extortion,” the church’s statement noted. “The lawsuit does not aim to reveal the truth nor does it focus on stopping the alleged perpetrator.”
The complaints allege negligence on the church’s part, accusing Laurie and other senior church leaders of failing to supervise Havsgaard despite repeated red flags and reports from donors, visitors and others that they suspected sexual abuse and saw poor living conditions at the shelter.
The lawsuit said Laurie not only kept Havsgaard in Romania with minimal oversight, but that the church also deposited $17,000 each month to Havsgaard’s personal bank account. Havsgaard also returned to California, bringing some of the children he was accused of abusing, to raise money for Harvest citing his work rehabilitating street children in Romania, the lawsuit said.
The church said it did fund Havsgaard’s initiative for “a period of time,” as they have supported numerous missionaries around the world, but “most of what is in the lawsuits about our church is absolutely and entirely false; some of it is plainly slanderous.”
The church said it has tried to engage with the plaintiffs and reported their allegations to law enforcement, but the men and their lawyer have refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities.
Barbu said in his complaint that life at the shelter was like “a torture chamber inside a prison” and that Havsgaard would show up regularly in the bathroom while boys were showering or undressed, stare at them or masturbate in their presence. Both plaintiffs have also accused Havsgaard of “pimping out” older boys for sex work via video chat or at bathhouses and taking a cut of their earnings.
The complaints detail sexual assault, inappropriate touching and abuse where children were made to kneel on walnut shells or were tied to their beds or radiators. According to the lawsuit, Havsgaard told the children while abusing them: “I know what God wants; what I want, God wants.”
McAllister said that in the coming weeks he expects to file lawsuits involving at least 20 others who say they were abused at the shelter.
“Some of them are still illiterate even though they lived in these homes where they were supposed to get an education,” he said. “They have issues with trust. They look after each other.”
Most of them are living in poverty and are looking for financial help and vindication, McAllister said.
“They’ve had a hard slog,” he said. “They would really like to get some sense that they’ve been heard and that the injustices they’ve suffered are recognized.”
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