Pastor, Bluffs church sued by victim
Published: Sunday, October 11, 2009 12:22 AM CDT
OMAHA (WHNS) – An Omaha girl told her pastor that her body belonged to God, not to him.
The pastor disagreed. He said having sex with him was OK, and “This is what love is.”
Those allegations are contained in new documents reviewed by The World-Herald News Service in the case of a Lincoln pastor accused of sexually assaulting the girl in Omaha and Council Bluffs.
Attorneys for the girl, now 17, say she will need psychological treatment and will suffer from the abuse for the rest of her life. She and her father are suing Efrain Umaña Sr. for damages for emotional pain and distress, according to a lawsuit filed in Pottawattamie County District Court.
He also faces criminal charges in Douglas and Pottawattamie counties.
She alleges in the civil suit that Umaña, who is now 54, raped her at least three times: once at her home in Omaha, once at the church in Council Bluffs and once in Umaña’s car. She said she was in fourth or fifth grade at the time of the assaults.
Umaña’s attorney, Andrew Wilson, said Umaña denies the girl’s allegations.
“He denies all the allegations both civilly and criminally,” Wilson said.
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The girl and her family regularly attended the church in Council Bluffs where Umaña formerly preached, Templo Monte Horeb. It is near 30th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Umaña had influence and authority over her and used that power to sexually abuse her, attorneys John McHale and Robert Knowles said in the lawsuit.
The girl and her father also named the church as a defendant in the same lawsuit, alleging that the church was negligent in failing to check Umaña’s background. They also say the church failed to supervise Umaña.
A church member said that the congregation had no idea anything was amiss with Umaña and the girl and that Umaña never would have been allowed to work there if they knew he had complaints of impropriety in his past.
“This is a good place,” said Jose Escobar, 34, a member of the church for five years. “It is very important we try all we can to protect everybody in the church.”
The current pastor, Raul Jimenez, said the church board that hired Umaña knew him to be a good pastor. Umaña left the church last year.
“They never knew he had a bad record,” Jimenez said. “He was a good preacher, a good teacher and he always came with his family.”
Umaña worked as a Lincoln Public Schools bus driver from 1992-97. In 1993, three students reported that they felt uncomfortable around Umaña, according to memos obtained by The World-Herald News Service.
The students reported that he hugged them, said things like, “Hi, Babe” and told them how pretty they were. He also kissed one and grabbed at their coats, according to the documents. One girl reported that she told him the bus was cold and he said, “Yes, but you and me are hot.”
In 1994, three elementary school students reported that Umaña grabbed them in inappropriate places. Umaña denied the allegations to school officials. In 1997, Umaña was terminated.
The official reason for his termination, according to Lincoln school district documents, was that the district continually received calls about him doing the route incorrectly and saying inappropriate things. The final problem was when he gave a student a note saying, “I will kill you next time I’ll see you!” He told officials it was a joke.
Umaña had been pastor at an Assemblies of God church in Lincoln, Neb., called Efesios 2:20 until the church’s Midwest Latin American District Council dismissed him in 2002.
According to a letter the church sent to Umaña, his dismissal resulted in part from a report by a 17-year-old parishioner that she’d had a physical relationship with him. She later sued and said the case was settled out of court for $18,000.
A 14-year-old girl also reported that he made advances.
He was dismissed from another Lincoln church, at 1305 N. 52nd Ave., in 2008.
The church was an affiliate of the International General Assembly of the Church of God, of Cleveland, Tenn. A Church of God trial found him guilty of ecclesiastical charges of unbecoming ministerial conduct.
David Gosnell, administrative bishop of the Church of God in the Midlands, declined to say what the ecclesiastical charges were. Gosnell said the ecclesiastical charges involved no minors.
Umaña also is charged with forcing a woman parishioner to have sex with him and with making unwanted advances to two women at the Bluffs church.
He awaits trial in Douglas and Pottawattamie counties on criminal charges involving the minor and the women at the Bluffs church.
He is out on bail and continues to preach at his church, Iglesia Templo Pentecostal El Nuevo Nacimiento, in Lincoln.
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