Five years after Carra Crouch, granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) founders, Jan and Paul Crouch, filed a personal-injury lawsuit against Trinity Church Center for a sexual assault case, a verdict was finally announced. The jury voted in favor of the plaintiff and consequently, the 24-year old was awarded a whopping amount of $2 million for damages.
Alleged Rape Cover-up
The year was 2006, at a Praise-A-Thon fundraiser in Atlanta, when Carra Crouch, then 13 years old, attended the event with the late Jan Crouch. This was when the alleged rape took place in her hotel room.
According to Crouch, she was drinking with a 30-year old employee of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), run by the Trinity Church Center, inside the hotel room when the perpetrator started making advances on her. After he gave her a glass of water which she claimed might have been laced with some sort of drug, she lost consciousness and woke up suspecting she was raped.
When she informed her grandmother, televangelist Jan Crouch, the ordained minister berated her instead of comforting her and questioning her molester. In the lawsuit, Carra Crouch claimed that her “Momma Jan” screamed at her and did not even report the incident to authorities.
“Why would you have that man in your room? Why would you let this happen” – these were the harsh words of the grandmother, according to David Kessling, attorney of Carra Crouch. He said that when Miss Crouch informed the church minister, she expected protection and sympathy and yet what she got was the opposite.
A case was never filed against the TBN employee although the 30-year old man was fired. As for not reporting the incident, Carra’s lawyer said that Jan Crouch just did not want the name of TBN to be dragged and tainted.
The State of California has a mandatory reporting law that puts ordained ministers, like the late televangelist under obligation, to report these types of incidents to the police. This was the basis of the civil case filed against Jan Crouch by her granddaughter in 2012.
The Verdict
After eight hours of deliberation, the jury voted in favor of Carra Crouch, saying that the actions of her grandmother, reprimanding her instead of protecting her was outrageous. However, on the alleged failure to report sexual assault, it was a different story since the jury rejected the allegation.
Although Carra Crouch was asking for $6 million in damages, she was only awarded $2 million. Half of the amount was for the years of emotional trauma since the incident until the trial was over while the other half was for the years, the jury believes, she has to spend in pain and suffering.
It was voted upon that the late Jan Crouch was 45 percent responsible for the emotional distress brought unto Carra Crouch while the church was vindicated for the failure of mandatory reporting allegation. For this, the Christian ministry was ordered to pay $900,000.
Meanwhile, the mother of Carra Crouch and the alleged molester were held 35 percent and 20 percent responsible, respectively. However, both did not have to pay since they were not defendants.
Today, Crouch is a medical office assistant and is still based in Orange County. While she is still working on healing spiritually and emotionally, she said that she plans to study nursing and will use the money pay for her education.
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