Indiana church fires pastor accused of having sex with foster daughter over 100 times
A week after their lead pastor, Errol Wright, was accused of having sex with his teenage foster daughter more than 100 times, Community Christian Church in Tell City, Indiana, said he has been fired and they're grieving over the ordeal.
“We have felt the same shock and hurt as the community concerning the recent incident involving our previous pastor. We neglected to release a statement until now because his family is heavily involved in the church, and we wished to give them time to process,” the church said in a statement cited by 14 News.
“We take accusations of this nature very seriously, and thus Errol Wright is no longer employed by the church and will have no further active involvement, as pastor or otherwise.”
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Wright, who was arrested and charged nearly two weeks ago with sexual misconduct with a minor and child seduction, was released on a nearly $48,000 cash bond with a pre-trial hearing set for April 3.
In their statement, the church also challenged “a misunderstanding” that any of their money was being used in their former pastor’s defense.
“We also wish to clear up a misunderstanding that has spread in our silence. None of the church’s money went to supporting Errol or paying his bail; all of the money given to him was from individuals who gave of their own volition,” their statement said. “This is a difficult time for our community, and we ask that everyone continue to pray for all those involved and for God’s will to be done in all of us.”
Lily Masterson, who is now an adult, told police in February that starting in 2016, Wright had sex with her about three times a week from the time she was 15, until she turned 18. The pastor and his wife, with whom he has two daughters, served as Masterson’s foster parents, according to an affidavit previously reported on by The Christian Post.
Wright became the pastor of Community Christian Church shortly after Masterson began attending when she was 15, according to the affidavit.
She said when Wright and his wife agreed to be her foster parents, she was happy initially.
“It was church, he was the one that everybody listened to,” she said. “Everybody loved him.”
She claims, however, that “He was just like a monster, just hiding in plain sight, and that’s the one that no one ever realizes.”
Masterson alleged in the affidavit that she once went on vacation with the pastor and his family to his native Jamaica, where he forced her to have sex with him on the same bed where he slept with his wife.
“He sent his wife to go to the store with the kids and stuff, just to have sex with me in the same bed that he laid with her,” she said.
Wright later allegedly took her to a store and forced her to take the morning after pill.
During the vacation, Masterson claimed that Wright scratched her and left a mark. A photo she posted on Facebook on July 16, 2017, shows her in a bikini on a beach with a visible scar on her stomach.
Jacklynn Gore, whom Masterson identifies as her biological mother, appeared uneasy with her teenage daughter wearing a bikini in public and told her to “Put on some clothes” in a comment on the photo. Masterson replied, “Lol mom it's the beach.”
Masterson said Wright showered her with gifts such as a phone and a car when she turned 16, and even promised to leave his wife for her but it never happened.
She said when she left the pastor’s home after she turned 18, she struggled with the trauma from the abuse and began using drugs, dropped out of college, and became homeless at one point.
With rehab and counseling, Masterson said that she survived because of her faith in God but she has now lost faith in humanity.
“I never lost my faith in God in this,” she told 14 News. “I lost my faith in humanity when it comes to just blindly putting my trust in people, even the ones we think are safe to go to.”
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