For Immediate Release_Seventh Day Adventist Conference named in sex abuse lawsuit
EAST BAY AREA SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CONFERENCE, HIT WITH NEW ALLEGATIONS IN CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE LAWSUIT
For More Information:
Kelly Clark, Esq.: 503-306-0224
Lisa A. Sapcoe, Esq.: 510-433-1830
CONTRA COSTA SUPERIOR COURT CASE NO. C-09-02215
October 1, 2009
Martinez, Cal—The Pleasant Hill Adventist Academy, formerly known as the Pleasant Hill Junior Academy, an elementary, middle and high school, and the Northern California Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists, are the targets of new allegations filed today in a lawsuit arising out of sexual abuse, in the mid‑1990s, of a female student by Andrew McPherson, then a teacher at the Adventist school. Two years later, after a transfer from Pleasant Hill, McPherson was convicted for multiple crimes related to sexual abuse of students at another Adventist school in Reno, Nevada, but he was never charged or held accountable for his actions in Pleasant Hill.
“We contend that all of this could and should have been avoided,” said Kelly Clark, an attorney from
The lawsuit contends that one Andrew McPherson, who was a teacher at Pleasant Hill Academy when the plaintiff, our client, who is referred to as Jane Doe for privacy reasons, was in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, sexually and physically abused and harassed her with explicit sexual comments, as well as grabbing, stroking, fondling, and French kissing her on multiple occasions. According to the lawsuit the abuse culminated in a violent episode in May 1996, in which McPherson became angry with plaintiff for refusing his authority, pushed her into a chair, while throttling her neck with his hands until he heard someone approaching.
According to Lisa Sapcoe, an
The lawsuit further contends that McPherson – who was the son of a prominent Adventist official in the Idaho Conference – was transferred after the throttling attack to another Seventh Day Adventist school in
According to Clark, who has represented over 200 individuals abused as children by adults such as Catholic priests, Mormon and Adventist church officials, clergy of numerous other denominations, Boy Scout leaders, teachers, coaches, and other adults in institutions of trust, “Our client is now a young mother struggling to put all this behind her, and has suffered similar emotional consequences as we see in many adult survivors of childhood abuse: significant issues concerning trust, physical and emotional intimacy, hyper-vigilance with regard to her own children, significant anger and clinical depression, and an extraordinary damage to her religious faith. No child or young woman should be abused by a trusted adult – especially in a setting of near total trust, a religious school.”
The suit seeks $5 million in general damages, plus another $250,000 in economic damages, primarily expected and incurred counseling and mental health expenses. According to the attorneys, the case would normally come to trial in about a year.
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Official Lawsuit Complaint
Summary of Background Facts
Official Statement of Jane Doe
[1] Clark is not admitted to practice in

February 28th, 2010 at 2:49 am
My name is Kevin and i was a student of phja and a victom of Andrew McPherson`s physical and mental abuse. I do not know if this case has gone to trial yet, but if you need someone to testify to the abuse to help the above case i would love the opportunity to help the victim secure her judgement if it has not already been awarded to her.