South Carolina church sued after multiple victims of sexual assault come forward

ROCK HILL, SC – Attorneys for young victims of sexual abuse by a MorningStar Fellowship youth leader and former North Carolina police officer have announced a lawsuit against youth leader Erickson Lee.

Lawsuits have also been filed against the church, Morningstar, its founder and pastor Richard Joyner, former church vice president David Yarnes, former security chief Douglas Lee, Chase Portello and others, alleging they ignored years of exploitation and abuse.

The lawyers say the abuse of the victims began when they were just 13 years old.

Following complaints from the victims' parents, Lee was arrested by the York County Sheriff's Office and pleaded guilty last week to second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree sexual abuse of a minor, first-degree assault, inducing a minor to commit a crime and distributing obscene material to a minor.

Neither Lee's crimes nor previous allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct at MorningStar Fellowship Church were reported to law enforcement by church leaders at the time of discovery. According to the lawsuit, several of the people named as defendants actually witnessed Lee's misconduct and did nothing to stop it. In fact, at least one of the defendants, Chase Portello, helped Lee threaten and intimidate his victims.

“The simple fact is that the leaders of MorningStar Fellowship Church not only failed to protect these young victims, but they supported and protected their abuser even after witnessing much of the abuse firsthand,” said Hood. “They had multiple chances to do the right thing, but instead they tried to sweep the matter under the rug, with at least one of them trying to help Lee intimidate his young victims.”