Victory Christian Center addresses rape allegations, says employees didn't follow procedure

Victory Christian Center has spoken out regarding allegations of rape and other sexual crimes involving at least two church employees and three possible victims, all teenaged girls.

It's posted here verbatim:

Statement from Victory Christian Center on Allegations of Rape on Campus

A tragic incident involving an allegation of rape at the Victory Christian Center campus has been the subject of much media coverage.

On behalf of Victory Christian Center, we fully understand the gravity of these allegations and are working with law enforcement and investigating within our organization to gather all information to address this matter. We are fully committed to the safety of our church family and our campus visitors, and this is not reflective of how we strive to operate.

Victory Christian Center has a written policy that requires any allegation of abuse to be reported by employees to the Department of Human Services, and internally within one hour to their department head and the director of human resources.  It appears that this policy was not followed by the employees initially involved, and the allegations were not reported as directed within the required time.

The employees who we found to be aware of the allegation of rape have been suspended while we complete our internal investigation and assess our final disciplinary actions.

We will be asking the state Department of Human Services to partner with us to conduct a full audit of our policy for responding to allegations of child abuse, and will conduct an in-depth review of these procedures with all employees and volunteers.

Victory Christian Center has fully cooperated with the police and their investigation, and we will continue to do so in the future.

Most importantly, our hearts go out to the victims involved, and we ask that your thoughts and prayers be with them and their families. The safety and well-being of anyone who comes on our campuses is extremely important to our ministry. We are deeply saddened and greatly disappointed by this event.

An assistant to Pastor Sharon Daugherty, had alerted KRMG earlier in the afternoon that Victory would make a statement.