Ex-Maryville Apostolic teacher volunteered at church after sex assault allegation
Soon after Joseph "Kade" Abbott was named in a lawsuit that accuses him of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, the former Maryville Apostolic Christian Academy middle school teacher skipped town.
Abbott, 26, moved two months ago to Matthews, North Carolina, where he volunteered at Abundant Life Church, an Apostolic congregation near Charlotte. He led a small group, according to screen shots posted on SpiritualAbuse.org’s Facebook page.
Abbott was arrested two weeks ago in North Carolina and brought back to Maryville on a charge of sexual battery by an authority figure. His first status hearing was Jan. 27.
Abbott, along with First Apostolic Church of Maryville and the school it runs, have been sued by the girl’s family in Blount County Circuit Court on allegations he sexual assaulted the girl several times in 2022.
Abbott was listed as an Apostolic Christian Academy staff member as recently as August.
Church work out of state
Abbott’s small group was named Balling, which was "a small group meant to fellowship in the love of recreational activities to get the ole pumper going.” Activities included tennis, basketball, volleyball, paintball and board games. The page on the church’s website listing small groups has since been removed.
Abundant Life’s Lead Pastor, Brent Watts, did not respond to a list of questions from Knox News, including whether Abbott was working with minors, but Watts told the online publication, Ministry Watch, the church was unaware of the allegations until a U.S. marshal and a sheriff’s officer came to arrest Abbott in church Jan. 8.
An attorney for the Maryville church did not respond to questions from Knox News, including whether someone at the church alerted leaders at the North Carolina church about the allegations and lawsuit against Abbott.
Abbott “displayed nothing but the highest of character," Watts told Ministry Watch, an evangelical Christian nonprofit that monitors ministries.
“With no knowledge of any allegations, I can confirm that Kade did lead a small group at our church during the fall of 2022,” he told Ministry Watch. “Those ended in November and in a recent update to our website, the listing of all those were removed as they were out of date.
“We pray for all involved in the situation but caution against jumping to any conclusions either way on the matter until all the facts come out.”
Friday's (brief) hearing
Dressed in his Sunday best on a Friday morning, Abbott appeared briefly in Blount County General Sessions Court for his first status hearing. He was previously released on a $200,000 bond and won't be back in court until March 17 for another status hearing.
Until then, he'll be in Mississippi, where he's from, wearing a monitoring device. He'll have weekly appearances via telephone or video call, but must come back to Maryville once a month to meet with his supervising officer.
Apostolic Christian completed training to guard against sex abuse
In 2018, the Apostolic Christian Academy and a connected day care announced they had achieved Partner in Prevention status, a designation given by the nonprofit Darkness to Light to organizations that take extra steps to protect the children they serve by training staff to understand child sexual abuse, identify unsafe situations and react responsibly in the best interest of children.
The family is suing for $4.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the type of hearing on Friday. It was a status hearing.
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @tyler_whetstone. Make our community, our society and our republic stronger by supporting robust local journalism. Subscribe online at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Former teacher volunteered at church after accusation of sex abuse
