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Pastors at First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California, told local authorities ten years ago that they suspected prominent church elder James Truxton, then 76, of molesting a child. A young woman said in a premarital counseling session that Truxton had molested her as a child. Other women came forward later with similar allegations.

Truxton, a member of the church since 1958, eventually confessed to committing the sexual acts. He wrote letters of regret to victims and church members, and set up a $30,000 trust fund to help pay the counseling costs of victims. The church, led at the time by Charles Swindoll, removed Truxton as an elder and revoked his membership.

That year Swindoll preached a strong sermon against church-related sexual abuse, "In Defense of the Helpless," which aired on his radio program, Insight for Living. But because the cases dated back more than six years, the state's statute of limitations applied, and the window for authorities to prosecute had closed.

Last summer, however, Insight for Living rebroadcast Swindoll's sermon. A woman listener called Fullerton police to find out what had happened to Truxton. After hearing he had never faced criminal charges, the woman, 29, told police that Truxton had molested her at his home from 1978 (when she was 7) to 1981.

In the interim, California law had changed. The statute of limitations no longer applied to new claims, and the police reopened the case, with the full cooperation of the Fullerton church.

Authorities filed charges in March that Truxton, now 86, had performed oral sex on a child. Now living in San Diego, Truxton faces a possible eight-year prison term if convicted. He was released from the Orange County jail after posting a $25,000 bond.

Prosecutor Randy Payne was surprised that an evangelical church had turned in one of its own. Payne, a deputy district attorney in Orange County, says the Fullerton church's willingness to investigate claims against Truxton and report the case to local police is not typical.

"It's unusual in the sense that when this came to light in 1992, they gathered enough information to take action against Truxton," Payne says. "I wouldn't have expected that 10 years ago. A lot of times, a church will go into [a] coverup. From our experience, people just don't want to believe this happens."

The clergy sexual abuse scandal generating headlines across the country is changing all that. Boston's Roman Catholic archdiocese is under heavy fire for covering up for homosexual priests who engaged in sexual relations with children.

The archdiocese may have to pay as much as $100 million in settlements, according to some estimates. More than 200 people in the archdiocese are filing clergy sexual abuse claims this year. Dioceses in New York, Ohio, Florida, Maine, and Pennsylvania are also facing cases.

While no definitive figures exist, the frequency of reporting church-related sexual abuse has increased. A 1995 survey of 1,700 congregations by Church Law and Tax Report found that 0.8 percent reported allegations of molestation. By 1996, 2 percent did.

As in the case of the Fullerton church, the publication notes that church volunteers commit 50 percent of all incidents of sexual abuse. Paid staff commit 30 percent, and other children commit 20 percent.

In all, authorities suspect that Truxton may have abused as many as 25 girls, starting in the 1950s while he was with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Truxton and pilot Betty Greene founded MAF in 1945 to provide air transportation to missionaries working in remote areas. Victims were girls between the ages of 7 and 13.

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May 21 2002, Vol. 46, No. 6