A sexual-abuse victim is suing former Kanakuk Kamp counselor Peter Newman as well as K-Kamp, Inc. (formerly known as Kanakuk Kamp, Inc.) and Kanakuk
Ministries.
According to the Turner
Report, the lawsuit alleges that officials at the Christian sports camp
committed fraud by presenting Newman as a "role model" while he was
sexually abusing young boys. The lawsuit, filed January 31, was filed on
behalf of a Little Rock man, who says he was abused by Newman, starting
when he was age 12.
The allegations in the lawsuit, if true, are sickening. Among them:
campers in 1999, 10 years before he was let go. They also promoted
Newman as a "camp director, devoted husband, loving, beloved friend and
mentor to
youth" after he was accused of molesting boys. He was also allowed to
promote himself as "an expert on teenage sexual purity."
with the families of campers they were recruiting during the off-season.
young boys there in the off-season.
Oklahoma and Tennessee.
letters and later engaging in phone sex with him. He alleges that his first
sexual encounter with Newman was on February 7, 2003. The next day, he
alleges, the next encounter occurred at "The Pit" at K-Kountry in Taney
The plaintiff also alleges that Newman engaged him in a mutual
masturbation session during a Purity Conference in Tennessee in 2004
and Oklahoma in 2005. At the Oklahoma conference, Newman is accused of
trying to get the boy to engage in sodomy. When he was denied, he
allegedly convinced the boy to do mutual masturbation. He now claims to suffer from "severe depression and ongoing anxiety" as
well as being "psychologically confused and spiritually damaged by a
person promoted to him by Kanakuk as a role model."
Newman is serving two life sentences for molesting underage boys from 2005 to 2008. Newman pleaded
guilty in February 2010 to two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy
and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy for abusing teenage
boys.
An investigative report recounting one victim's experience noted that Newman
would ask boys to masturbate with him in his hot tub during one-on-one sessions at his Branson
home. Newman claimed that there would be no lust if they masturbated. Once they were in the hot tub, it wasn't long before Newman asked
for other things, like mutual masturbation and oral sex, from the underage boys. At least one
victim was as young as 11.
Newman would often befriend the children's families, "attending family dinners, sleepovers, Bible studies, taking vacations
together and writing letters."
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