Years of ignored warnings freed a children’s pastor to sexually abuse girls, lawsuit says

Pastors and PreyYears of ignored warnings freed a children’s pastor to sexually abuse girls, lawsuit saysLong before an Assemblies of God pastor was convicted of rape, children told church leaders about hidden cameras, drugged drinks and abuse, a new lawsuit says.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Add NBC News to GoogleHow Assemblies of God churches allegedly shielded predators as they abused children04:47Get more newsLiveonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 22, 2026, 12:32 PM EDTBy Mike HixenbaughThis article is part of “Pastors and Prey,” a series investigating sex abuse allegations in the Assemblies of God. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.More than a decade before police found dozens of videos of naked children on the computer of longtime children’s pastor Tony Waller, girls at his Assemblies of God church in Arkansas repeatedly warned adults about what was happening behind closed doors, according to a lawsuit filed this week.The sweeping civil complaint, filed by six women in Craighead County Circuit Court, accuses Refuge Church in Jonesboro, along with regional and national leaders of the Assemblies of God, of dismissing reports of Waller’s abuses — enabling him to groom, molest and secretly film girls for 15 years.When they were still children, the women say, they told pastors about hidden cameras in a church bathroom. About Waller’s practice of making them strip naked and perform stretches. About the discomfort that shot through them when he put his hands on their bodies.The earliest reports about Waller reached church leaders in 2000, according to the lawsuit. Again and again over the years that followed, the complaint alleges, church leaders took little action. A senior pastor briefly suspended Waller around 2004 after girls discovered a hidden camera pointing into a church bathroom, then promptly returned him to ministry, where he continued preying on children for another deca...