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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm not sure I understand your posting these two
tragic stores. I do know that everyone and I do mean everyone who is taking coke
lies about so many things it is impossible to keep track. Crouch had lived a
great life and may just be trying to keep people like you from hearing about
this and believing it without real evidence to the contrary. But, you believe
what you want to. As to the catholic church and their super bad behavior in this
area we already know. Are you just trying to rub salt into the wound or do you
think you are actually helping the problem? I thank you for your fine
research though.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PK</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=deco@moscow.com href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco aka W. Fox</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, September 12, 2004 9:23
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] 09-12-04 LA Times:
Televangelist Paul Crouch Attemptsto Keep Accuser Quiet</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4><A
href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lonnie12sep12.story"><FONT
size=3>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lonnie12sep12.story</FONT></A><FONT
size=3> </FONT>
<H1>Televangelist Paul Crouch Attempts to Keep Accuser Quiet</H1>
<H2>A former worker at TBN threatened to disclose an alleged 1996 homosexual
encounter.</H2>By William Lobdell<BR>Times Staff Writer<BR><BR>September 12,
2004<BR><BR>Televangelist Paul Crouch, founder of the world's largest
Christian broadcasting network, has waged a fierce legal battle to prevent a
former employee from publicizing allegations that he and Crouch had a sexual
encounter eight years ago.<BR><BR>Crouch, 70, is the president of Trinity
Broadcasting Network, based in Orange County, whose Christian programming
reaches millions of viewers around the world via satellite, cable and
broadcast stations.<BR><BR>The source of the allegations against him is Enoch
Lonnie Ford, who met Crouch at a TBN-affiliated drug treatment center in 1991
and later went to work for the ministry.<BR><BR>After Ford threatened to sue
TBN in 1998, claiming that he had been unjustly fired, Crouch reached a
$425,000 settlement with him. In return, Ford agreed, among other things, not
to discuss his claim about a sexual encounter with the TV preacher.<BR><BR>But
in the last year, Ford has threatened to go public with his story, prompting a
flurry of legal maneuvers conducted in closed court hearings, sealed
pleadings and private arbitration.<BR><BR>In court papers, Crouch has denied
the allegations, and ministry officials have described Ford who has a
history of drug problems and has served time for a sex offense as a liar and
an extortionist.<BR><BR>At stake are the public image of one of the world's
most successful televangelists and, potentially, the fortunes of the
broadcasting empire that Crouch and his wife, Jan, built over the last 31
years.<BR><BR>TBN and Crouch went on the legal offensive after they learned
that Ford had written a book manuscript that included an account of the
alleged sexual encounter.<BR><BR>In a dramatic flourish, Ford had appeared at
a TBN broadcast studio in Costa Mesa, minutes before the start of a
"Praise-a-thon" fundraiser, and, without comment, handed Crouch a copy of the
manuscript<BR><BR>Ford's lawyer later told ministry officials that they could
keep the work out of public view by buying the rights. After some discussion,
he suggested that $10 million might be a reasonable price.<BR><BR>While
negotiations continued, Crouch sued to enforce the 1998 secrecy agreement and
obtained a restraining order barring Ford from seeking a publisher for his
book.<BR><BR>Orange County Superior Court Judge John M. Watson also granted
Crouch's request to conduct the case in secret, sealing all documents and
expunging any mention of the suit from public court records.<BR><BR>Both sides
eventually agreed to let a private arbitrator decide the matter. In June, the
arbitrator ruled that Ford could not publish the manuscript without violating
the 1998 settlement an act that could subject him to monetary
damages.<BR><BR>This account of the controversy is drawn from interviews with
friends of Ford's, unsealed court records, correspondence among TBN lawyers
and a copy of the arbitrator's confidential ruling. The arbitrator's decision
contains details about the 1998 settlement and Ford's manuscript both of
which are under seal.<BR><BR>Records and interviews show that even as they
battled to keep Ford's story from leaking, TBN lawyers worried that details
would eventually come out.<BR><BR>"I am absolutely amazed that Lonnie hasn't
gone to Penthouse or Dianne [sic] Sawyer with his manuscript, notwithstanding
the [judge's] injunction," TBN attorney Dennis G. Brewer Sr. wrote in a March
letter to the network's other lawyers.<BR><BR>In a subsequent letter, in May,
Brewer mentioned the anguish that Ford's accusations had caused Crouch's
youngest son, Matt, when he learned of them in 1998.<BR><BR>Brewer wrote that
the younger Crouch had told his then-law partner, David Middlebrook: "I am
devastated; I am confronted with having to face the fact that my father is a
homosexual."<BR><BR>Middlebrook and Matt Crouch have denied that there was
such a conversation.<BR><BR><B>Millions of Viewers<BR><BR></B>Paul and Jan
Crouch started TBN in 1973, using a rented studio in Santa Ana. Over the next
three decades, they built a worldwide broadcasting network by buying TV
stations and negotiating deals with cable systems and satellite
companies.<BR><BR>Today, TBN's 24-hour-a-day menu of sermons, faith healing,
inspirational movies and other Christian fare reaches millions of viewers from
Spain to the Solomon Islands.<BR><BR>Paul Crouch is the driving
entrepreneurial force behind the network and one of its most popular on-air
personalities. He and Jan, his wife of 46 years, have cultivated a folksy
on-screen image as a devoted couple.<BR><BR>TBN officials have long been
concerned about how Ford's allegations could affect the network, which relies
heavily on donations from viewers. Officials said they were particularly
worried about possible comparisons to the scandal that brought down
televangelist Jim Bakker in 1987.<BR><BR>Bakker resigned from his PTL
Ministries in 1987 after admitting to paying a secretary $265,000 in ministry
funds to be silent about an earlier affair. Bakker later went to prison for
bilking donors.<BR><BR>TBN officials said they were careful not to pay Ford
with ministry funds in 1998. They declined to say whether the money came from
an insurer, Crouch personally or some other source.<BR><BR>Ford, 41, said he
could not discuss his manuscript or his allegations against Crouch but he did
provide basic facts about his background and his time at TBN.<BR><BR>Ford,
whose father and grandfather were ministers, grew up in Fairfax County, Va.,
moved to California in 1989 and worked in a string of jobs that included
jewelry salesman, produce clerk and gas station attendant. For years, he
struggled to kick a cocaine habit.<BR><BR>In 1991, he checked into a Christian
drug treatment program in Colleyville, Texas, on a TBN-owned ranch. It was
there that Ford met Crouch. In 1992 the network hired him to work on a phone
bank in Orange County. Ford said he also ran errands for the Crouches and
drove Paul Crouch to appointments.<BR><BR>Ford repeatedly ran into trouble
with the law, but TBN stood behind him. In 1994, he pleaded no contest in San
Bernardino County to having sex with a 17-year-old boy and served six months
in jail, according to court records. TBN took him back after his
release.<BR><BR>In 1995, he pleaded guilty in Orange County to possession of
cocaine and served about 30 days in County Jail. Again, TBN took him
back.<BR><BR><B>Lake Arrowhead Cabin<BR><BR></B>The alleged sexual encounter
between Ford and Crouch occurred in the fall of 1996, according to Sandi
Mahlow, a Tustin housewife who met Ford in a Fullerton church 10 years ago and
became a close friend.<BR><BR>Mahlow, 50, who helped Ford write his
manuscript, said he broke down in tears after returning from a weekend spent
alone with Crouch at a TBN-owned cabin near Lake Arrowhead. Mahlow said Ford
told her that he and Crouch had engaged in sexual acts.<BR><BR>"Lonnie had a
lot of bad traits; one thing he isn't, and that's a liar," Mahlow said. She
said she helped Ford with his manuscript for no pay, as a favor to a friend,
and has no financial interest in the book.<BR><BR>After the alleged encounter,
Ford continued to work at TBN. For a time, he lived rent-free in an apartment
at the network's Tustin headquarters, according to Mahlow and another friend
of Ford's, Diane Benson, who met him at an Anaheim church 14 years
ago.<BR><BR>A third friend of Ford's said that in October 1996, about the time
of the alleged Arrowhead encounter, ministry officials gave her a $12,000
check to pay back money Ford owed her. The woman spoke on condition that she
not be named, saying she feared retaliation.<BR><BR>TBN officials acknowledged
that the ministry paid some of Ford's debts. They said the network commonly
extends such generosity to employees in financial trouble.<BR><BR>Within weeks
of the Arrowhead trip, Ford tested positive for drug use and was arrested for
violating terms of his probation. While Ford awaited sentencing, the ministry
again came to his support, urging the judge not to impose more prison
time.<BR><BR>Ford "has continuously shown a very positive attitude regarding
whatever we have asked him to do," wrote Ruth M. Brown, Paul Crouch's sister
and TBN's director of personnel. "He carried out his duties cheerfully and
always tries to do more than asked."<BR><BR>The judge sent Ford to the
California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, a drug treatment facility in the
state prison system.<BR><BR>In August 1997, Jay Jones, TBN's director of
telephone ministry, wrote prison officials that Ford would have a job with the
network after he got out, despite his "extended leave of absence."<BR><BR>But
Ford said that after he was released in February 1998, he was told he no
longer had a position at TBN.<BR><BR>"There comes a point in time when you
have to say, 'Enough is enough,' " said John Casoria, a TBN lawyer who is a
nephew of the Crouches.<BR><BR>Ford responded with his threat to sue. The
settlement followed.<BR><BR>Despite TBN's efforts to keep Ford's charges
secret, they surfaced in an unrelated 1998 lawsuit. A former bodyguard for TBN
personality Benny Hinn testified in a deposition that during a European bus
tour that year, Hinn had told a group of associates about "a sexual
relationship that Paul Crouch had with his chauffeur."<BR><BR>The witness,
Mario C. Licciardello, quoted Hinn as saying: "Paul's defense was that he was
drunk."<BR><BR>Hinn and six others mentioned by Licciardello, who died in
2000, told The Times that Hinn never made such remarks. However, Rick Jones, a
retired police officer and ordained minister who worked for Hinn, said he
heard Hinn talk about Crouch's alleged homosexual relationship on that
bus.<BR><BR>Jones said he was disgusted by the talk and "got up and walked
away. I didn't want to hear gossip."<BR><BR><B>Asking $10
Million<BR><BR></B>Meanwhile, Ford began to have second thoughts about keeping
silent. Last year, with Mahlow's help, he wrote his manuscript, titled
"Arrowhead."<BR><BR>Friends said Ford wanted to expose what he viewed as
Crouch's hypocrisy. They said he also needed money and hoped to earn some by
selling the manuscript. It's unclear how Ford spent his 1998 settlement, but
today he leads a modest existence, living in a room of a Lake Forest home and
working as a mortgage salesman.<BR><BR>Ministry officials learned of the book
in April 2003, when Ford walked onto the set of TBN's Costa Mesa broadcast
studio and handed a copy of the manuscript to Crouch.<BR><BR>Ford's attorney,
Eugene Zech, said that Brewer, the TBN lawyer, called him the next business
day. In court papers, Zech said that Brewer asked "if Ford might be willing to
accept $1 million in exchange for the manuscript."<BR><BR>Zech said in the
court filing that he suggested $10 million.<BR><BR>When the parties went to
arbitration, Crouch's lawyers argued that publication would violate the 1998
settlement and cause irreparable damage to Crouch's reputation. Ford's lawyers
argued that the secrecy agreement was overly broad and violated his
free-speech rights.<BR><BR>Arbitrator Robert J. Neill ruled that Ford's right
to make his allegations public "was sold to [Crouch] for $425,000." Ford
"bargained away his right to speak on certain matters and now suggests that
his right to free speech trumps that bargain
. [His] right to discuss these
matters was bought and paid for. He relinquished that right."<BR><BR>Paul
Crouch Jr., a TBN executive and the televangelist's oldest son, said that
despite the favorable ruling, he wished his father had never entered into the
settlement with Ford.<BR><BR>Crouch said advisors persuaded his father that it
would be cheaper to settle than to litigate. He said TBN was particularly
anxious to avoid negative publicity because the ministry was celebrating its
25th anniversary that year.<BR><BR>"In hindsight, we should have fought Lonnie
tooth and nail," the son said in an interview. "We should have drawn the
battle lines right there."</FONT></DIV>
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