In a recent filing in Craighead County Circuit Court, six women accused Refuge Church and Assemblies of God leaders of ignoring years of warnings. The lawsuit alleges that these officials permitted Tony Waller to groom and film children for 15 years before his actions were finally revealed in 2015.

A 15-year pattren of warnings ignored at Refuge Church

Refuge Church, which was previously known as Jonesboro First Assembly of God, is facing allegations of systemic negligence in a new legal filing. According to the lawsuit, the predatory behavior of children's pastor Tony Waller was not an isolated incident but a continuous cycle of abuse that lasted for 15 years.

The legal documents name Mike Glover, the former longtime senior pastor of Refuge Church, as a defendant in the case. The lawsuit alleges that Glover hired Waller to serve as the children's pastor in 1999 and began receiving troubling reports about Waller's conduct within just one year of his arrival. This suggests that the church's leadership had ample opportunity to intervene long before the abuse was publicly exposed.

The 2015 computer discovery that ended Tony Waller's crimes

The era of abuse involving Tony Waller only concluded in 2015 following a domestic discovery rather than an internal church audit... As reported by NBC News, Waller’s wife contacted the police after she discovered illegal images on his computer.

Following the police intervention, Waller pleaded guilty to the rape of two girls and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. One of the plaintiffs, Stephanie Davis, alleges that her family had previously notified a senior pastor after she was drugged and recorded by Waller when she was approximately 12 years old.

The General Council's defense of delayed awareness

The General Council of the Assemblies of God, which serves as the denomination’s U.S. governing body, maintains that it was unaware of the allegations against Waller until 2015. The organization has stated that its knowledge of the situation only began once the police investigation was initiated.

In the wake of the scandal,the General Council claims to have implemented much stricter child safety policies to prevent future occurrences. These new protocols include mandatory reporting, the installation of security cameras, and more rigorous background checks. However, the plaintiffs argue that these measures are a belated response to a failure that should have been addressed decades ago.

What happened to the reports from Jonesboro school officials?

Significant questions remain regarding how local authorities and school officials interacted with the church hierarchy. A police report reviewed by NBC News indicates that both Jonesboro police and elementary school officials had previously opened an investigation into Waller's behavior concerning an 11-year-old girl.

The lawsuit raises the question of why these external investigations did not result in immediate action from the Assemblies of God or Refuge Church leadership . Furthermore, the specific identity of the senior pastors who received warnings from the Davis family remains a point of contention that the court will likely need to resolve to determine the full extent of the alleged cover-up.