BRONX, N.Y. (CN) - Leaders of the World Harvest Church/Harvest Preparatory Academy knew a church official was statutorily raping a 13-year-old parishioner-student but did nothing to stop it, the girl, now a woman, claims in Bronx County Supreme Court.
The woman, now 20, claims in the lawsuit that defendant Michael Clare "founded Harvest Preparatory Academy as a subsidiary of World Harvest Church."
She says that Clare told her to call him her "pastor" and began having sex with her in 2007, when she was 13. Clare was pastor and principal of the school, according to the complaint.
The woman claims Clare made her pregnant in 2009, and "forcibly coerced" her to get an abortion.
In January 2010, when she was 16, Clare "beat plaintiff unconscious and then raped her unconscious body," she says in the 20-page lawsuit.
Clare was sentenced in January this year to 5 years in prison for raping her and another student, according to the complaint.
She claims that co-defendant officers of the church school were told as early as 2007 that Clare was raping her, but did nothing to stop it.
Defendants include Rod Parsley, founder of the World Harvest Ministerial Alliance.
The plaintiff is represented by Subin Associates, of Manhattan.
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