Reports fell short after victims of alleged abuse come forward

SHAWNEE, Okla. (KFOR) — More has come out after a 91-year-old former board member of a Shawnee Nazarene Church was arrested in connection to alleged child molestation.

A former youth pastor reached out to News 4 Friday and said he also was threatened that he would lose his job if the allegations were reported further.

Shawnee Police told News 4 that they don't understand how a report from 2016 was not followed up on within their department. But as soon as the victim from that report came back this past summer, they started reaching out and following up.

The report was from a victim, who filed with her mother when she was 16 years old. The report included allegations that 91-year-old Charles Sulivant lured her to his truck when she was 9-years-old promising a gift, touched her, kissed her, and then tried getting under her clothes.

Documents detailed that the girl said she talked to her pastor at the time, Johnny Stephens. She said that he told her, at the time, that there were at least four other girls that he knew of that Sulivant had "tried something with."

News 4 confronted Stephens on Thursday who said he only knew of two victims during his time at the church. Stephens was retired from the church.

To the police, Stephens allegedly denied knowing of anyone being threatened of losing their jobs for doing the right thing.

"I didn't ignore him, I didn't ignore him, I just tried my best to watch him," said Stephens.

Reportedly, a youth pastor from a different church, overheard girls discussing allegations surrounding Sulivant in 2015 or 2016. He told police that he then reached out to his lead pastor who allegedly told him to leave it up to the girls' families to report it.

But he took it a step further, and reported the allegations anonymously to Oklahoma Human Services.

One of the victims reached out to News 4 Friday to make it clear that the pastor who made the anonymous report did the right thing.

Stephens told police, according to the report, that at no point did he or anyone else in his church make any police reports, or DHS referrals about what Sullivant was doing.

In an interview Thursday Stephens said, "Looking back, I probably should have called the police."

Current Oklahoma law states that there is a mandatory reporting law that requires any individual who suspects a person is being abused or neglected to report it immediately.

Oklahoma Human Services responded to News 4 after being told of the situation.

Oklahoma Human Services takes the well-being of Oklahoma’s children very seriously. We encourage Oklahomans to join our efforts and utilize our abuse and neglect reporting hotline which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number is 1-800-522-3511. Our state's mandatory reporting laws require that any individual who suspects a person is being abused or neglected should never wait for another individual to report the alleged abuse and should instead report it themselves immediately. The agency has statutory authority to investigate instances of abuse, neglect and abandonment at the hands of those who are responsible for the care of a child like a parent, guardian, foster parent or child care employee. In other instances, law enforcement will investigate. Oklahoma Human Services is thankful for our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners who work in unison with our agency to ensure the safety of all Oklahomans.

Oklahoma Human Services

The allegations include up to five victims' interviews with police and allegations of Sulivant rubbing himself on one young girl, reaching inside the dress of another girl, and more.

According to court documents, Stephens and another youth pastor allegedly told the superintendent at the time, Terry Rowland. That youth pastor told police that Rowland tried to tell him not to report it, and to leave it up to the girls' families to report it.

Stephens told police during his interview that he reached out to Rowland, and that he told Stephens that he needed to continue doing what he was doing to handle the situation.

It's unknown what Stephens told Rowland specifically about the allegations.

Rowland was asked by News 4, but could not recall the incident or the conversations. He had not been interviewed by police.

He said that if the pastor knew then it should have been reported, but he did not have time to look back and recall specifics.

"I'm sorry, I just don't remember. If I didn't know anything about it then how would I have failed them," said Rowland Friday.

Sulivant, when first interviewed by Shawnee Police in August, said he admitted that what he had done to the girls was wrong, inappropriate, and criminal.

After a second interview he told police, "Okay, I guess it's time to pay up (for what he had done)."

Sulivant was booked into jail on November 5 and bonded out soon after.

Police are asking if there are any other victims, to call their department at 405-273-0989.