Gateway Church recently settled a lawsuit alleging child sex abuse. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Tarrant County accuses a member of the Gateway Church youth group of sexually assaulting a year-old girl repeatedly on church grounds.
The lawsuit alleges the assaults began in According to the lawsuit filed by Julia Long, who was 13 years old at the time, she regularly attended youth group meetings at The King's University in Southlake with roughly other members ranging in age from 11 years old to 18 years old. One of those members was then year-old Gabriel Snyder, according to the lawsuit. In late , the lawsuit alleges Snyder began grooming Long during youth group meetings, using "biblical beliefs and teachings of Gateway's pastor and ministers" to convince her that it was God's will she submit to him as a female.
The lawsuit claims Snyder sexually assaulted Long multiple times in December , taking her "into the darkness outside The King's University.
Typically CBS News Texas would not identify sexual assault victims, but Long made the decision to have her story publicly known as part of her healing process. This is part of her healing process," said George Boll, Long's attorney.
The assaults on the campus continued into February , where surveillance cameras were in place on the building above the areas where the assaults allegedly took place, according to the lawsuit. By this time, Snyder had turned 18 years old. They claim Gateway was negligent as a provider of youth services and failed to safeguard against child abuse.
