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FOX4 debate moderator John Holt pressed Kansas Democrat Adam Hamilton on Wednesday over why his church did not report allegations of inappropriate touching to police in 2005 and allowed the same volunteer to return as a camp leader the following year.
Holt asked Hamilton about the church’s decision to investigate internally rather than immediately turn the allegations over to law enforcement. Hamilton, the founding pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, is challenging Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS).
“Parents entrusted your church to take care of their children,” Holt said.
Holt then quoted an acknowledgment Hamilton had made to CNN about the church’s handling of the complaints.
“We should have called the police immediately, but that was not our policies 21 years ago,” Hamilton said in the remarks Holt played back during his question.
The moderator noted that the volunteer returned as a camp leader in 2006 and faced further allegations. Church officials contacted authorities that year.
“Obviously, it’s your responsibility to take care of these kids,” Holt said. “Why not override that policy back in 2005 when you had to know that police or law enforcement are better at investigating these kinds of things than staff?”
Hamilton did not explain why he had not overridden the church’s policy in 2005, pointing instead to changes made afterward.
“The reality is that we did change our policy after that,” Hamilton responded.
The church contacted authorities the following year, after the volunteer returned and further allegations surfaced. Hamilton cited the subsequent investigation’s outcome.
“They found the same thing. It was inconclusive. There was uncertainty, and as a result of that, they refused to press charges as well,” he said.
The allegations concerned church volunteer Scott Preston Moore. According to court records reviewed by the Kansas City Star, two teenage boys reported that a man entered their sleeping quarters during a November 2005 church retreat and touched them inappropriately. The church investigated but did not notify police or social services. The records said darkness and a light shined at the boys’ faces prevented them from positively identifying the man.
Moore returned as a cabin leader in 2006 and was accused of entering campers’ rooms at night. Church officials then reported allegations from both years to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office. The Star reported that the court records did not establish that Moore blockually blockaulted anyone at the 2006 retreat.
Moore was later convicted in 2013 of misdemeanor blockual battery involving a 16-year-old boy at his Overland Park home in 2010. He received a one-year jail sentence in that case, which was separate from the church retreats, according to a Star fact check. The newspaper also reported that the available records did not establish that Hamilton personally decided to let Moore return to camp in 2006.
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