Amended complaint in Kanakuk civil suit: Pete Newman called boy at Texas home to discuss masturbation

In an amended complaint filed today in U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the lawyer for a Texas boy who was molested by former Kanakuk Kamp director Pete Newman says part of Newman's grooming process with the boy involved calling him at his home to discuss masturbation.

The amended filing came after lawyers for Kanakuk and its president Joe White asked that the case either be dismissed or moved to Missouri because Pete Newman's crimes occurred in this state.

The new filing lists a number of connections to Texas, including White's efforts to encourage parents to send their children to the camp and Newman's phone calls.

Newman is serving two life sentences plus 30 years after pleading guilty to numerous sex crimes involving underage boys:

As a director of Kanakuk Kamps responsible for religious teaching, Defendant Newman called John Doe I at his home in Texas and spoke to his father, John Doe. As a religious leader, Defendant Newman offered to discuss masturbation with John Doe I. John Doe, knowing only of Defendant White, Kanakuk Ministries, and Kanakuk Heritage’s sponsorship and endorsement of Defendant Newman, and knowing nothing of Defendant Newman’s past inappropriate sexual behavior, which Defendants Kanakuk Ministries, Kanakuk Heritage and Joe White were aware of, permitted his son to discuss masturbation with Defendant Newman. Defendant Newman used this contact with John Doe I in Texas as a further opportunity to groom John Doe I psychologically and emotionally for sexual abuse by Defendant Newman.

Had it not been for the actions of Joe White and Newman that involved Texas, the petition says, John Doe I, the name given to the boy in the lawsuit, would not have been molested.

Most of the other details of the lawsuit were the same as the original, including the charge that White and Kanakuk officials knew about Newman's problems stemming from incidents in 1999 and 2003 when Newman and campers cavorted naked on the campgrounds.

Details of the lawsuit can be found at this link.