Gulf Breeze church's negligence opened door for youth pastor's sex crimes, lawsuit claims

Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal
·3 min read
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Gulf Breeze Methodist Church officials did not follow their own policies, which opened the door to a 13-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by a youth pastor, claims the lawyer who filed a suit against the church and its leadership on behalf of the girl and her family.

"They have internal policies that control how these people are hired and how they function as youth pastors … but a policy is only as good as its enforcement," said Joe Zarzaur, senior partner of Zarzaur Law P.A. "In this particular situation, those policies weren't enforced, they weren't followed, they were ignored."

The lawsuit comes after former Gulf Breeze Methodist Church Youth Pastor Ryan Walsh was found guilty of lewd and lascivious behavior with a 13-year-old girl, distributing obscene material to a minor and obscene communication to seduce or solicit a child.

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Zarzaur's lawsuit names the following defendants:

  • Former Youth Pastor Ryan Walsh

  • Executive Pastor Kenneth York

  • Pastor Dan Morris

  • Gulf Breeze Methodist Church

  • Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church

The policies to which Zarzaur refers are the Safe Sanctuaries Smaller Membership Congregations Policies and Guidelines which, according to the policy, were adopted by the general conference of the United Methodist Church in April 1996 and "aimed at reducing the risk of child sexual abuse in the church."

One of the church's rules the youth pastor must follow is the "two adult rule," which Zarzaur alleges was not followed as "the second adult that was to be present during the youth program ... was deployed overseas and not present at all times material."

Zarzaur also alleges Morris, who is in charge of hiring and retention, failed "to do an adequate background check, failing to perform an appropriate psychological evaluation or profile, and failing to make sufficient inquiry" of Walsh's qualifications.

The suit also alleges that York failed to perform a background check and psychological evaluation, while also "failing to properly restrict Defendant Walsh from unsupervised access to children."

The lawsuit names the church because under Florida law, a principal is responsible for the acts of its employees if the acts are committed in the scope of the employee's employment.

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Zarzaur says another large problem is the pastors attempting to handle the situation in-house prior to further information coming to light.

"They admitted completely they were going to try to handle the sexting in-house, which is obviously a problem," Zarzaur said. "Safe Sanctuaries policy is meant to prevent these things from happening. If you don't follow the Safe Sanctuaries policy that the Methodist Church is supposed to be pronouncing and enforcing, then you have situations like this."

The Gulf Breeze Police Department began an investigation Feb. 6, 2020, into Walsh after the church's senior pastor and executive pastor reported inappropriate contact between a minor and Walsh.

The pastors were contacted the previous day by the teenager's parents, who discovered text threads that were explicit and sexual in nature. They immediately put Walsh on administrative leave and had him leave the church property.

Mary Catherine Phillips, director of communications of the Alabama-West Florida United Methodist Church Conference, told the News Journal that no one from the organization will conduct interviews with the media and will only provide a statement.

"Due to ongoing litigation, we are not able to comment further," Phillips told the News Journal. "We are praying for all involved."

Zarzaur also filed a motion for a protective order to keep the family's real names out of all court documents to protect the victim, and also demanded a jury trial in the case.

Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Gulf Breeze church negligent in youth pastor sex assault, lawsuit says