Wayne Aarum, pastor and director of Circle C Ranch Christian camp in Delevan who has been accused of inappropriately touching adolescent girls, filed a defamation lawsuit against Buffalo-area megachurch The Chapel on Wednesday.
According to the Christian Post, at least 21 girls have reportedly come forward to accuse him, through lawyers hired by The Chapel, of inappropriately touching them. In response, the 55-year-old pastor of the First Baptist Church of Arcade and a member of the board of Living Waters Ministries Inc., which oversees the Christian camp, filed a lawsuit against The Chapel for causing "harm to reputation, mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional injury." The suit demands $3.125 million as part of settlement.
Amherst lawyers Steven K. Long and Olivia T. Paulo-Lee filed Aarum's case on June 2, the same day the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle published a lengthy article mentioning several women who claimed improper conduct, reports Buffalo News.
In the lawsuit, Aarum accuses Pastor John A. Camardo and his staff of fabricating the claims in order to discredit him because he refuses to endorse the sale of portion of the 315 acres related to his camp to developers looking to construct a $500 million windmill project.
After the death of church founder James Andrews in 1999 and the beginning of a "more expansionist and financially oriented" administration of the church under new Lead Pastor Jerry Gillis, Aarum claimed in his lawsuit that the relationship between the church and the camp deteriorated.
According to court documents, a Chicago developer has eyed the 315-acre Circle C Ranch camp site for a $500 million windmill project, but the camp's board has refused to sell or lease the site.
The lawsuit states that The Chapel's leadership has become aware of the rising value of the camp property, and that Camardo has been attempting since 2019 to smear Aarum's reputation in order to create "a more favorable board of directors to control the Circle C Ranch camp and the use and disposition of its land."
Likewise, a statement on the camp website explaining why the case had been filed noted that they had done their best to address the problem by suggesting that both parties follow the Bible's directives for solving conflicts, as described in Matthew 18 by Jesus, but were told "Matthew 18 does not apply."
"We have requested to meet with them several times and each time they have refused. We have repeatedly requested to know who the anonymous accusations are coming from and again, with the exception of one instance, they have refused," the statement reads.
"Therefore," they argue, "we have chosen to follow the instructions given by the Apostle Paul in Romans 13 to use the God-appointed government institutions and have officially lodged a legal complaint against The Chapel."
"While this is not the path we had ever hoped for, we simply refuse to allow this unjust activity to continue any longer for the sake of the camp, our families, and the lives of so many we pray are yet to be impacted for good by the ministry God birthed over 53 years ago in the heart of Mr. Wes," declared the camp.
Aarum has denied any misconduct in relation to the accusations leveled against him. He is still the pastor of Arcade's First Baptist Church and the director of Circle C Ranch.
