Post by Deleted on May 27, 2016 12:25:45 GMT -5
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Upon pleading guilty in 1996 for a sexual assault in Washington County, Stephan Ramsier told a pre-sentencing investigator he had accepted Jesus as savior and was staying sober and turning his life around. Treatment specialists vouched for his effort to mend his ways. But his victim told the judge she feared he would strike again. Years after Ramsier’s eight-month term behind bars, he did. Two Christian ministries in Pittsburgh that later employed Ramsier — despite the public record of his criminal conviction for indecent assault and burglary — now face a lawsuit filed by the family of a girl he sexually assaulted between 2008 and 2011.
Named in the suit are Light of Life Ministries — a North Side mission that works with homeless men and other needy individuals — and Door of Hope Community Church in Lawrenceville. The legal complaint was filed Monday in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. The suit says the ministries knew or should have known they were putting a convicted sex offender on staff. Also sued are the regional and national organizations of Door of Hope’s parent denomination — the Primitive Methodist Church in the USA — as well as Ramsier himself and his ex-wife Sherry Ramsier.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages on various counts of negligence against the defendants, saying they enabled Ramsier to exploit vulnerable people, including the plaintiff, who is not named to protect her identity. “We’re trying to get this girl some help for the future,” said Homestead attorney Mark A. Smith, representing the family. “God knows she’s going to need it.” Stephan Ramsier is now serving consecutive sentences of two-and-a-half to seven years each at SCI Somerset after his 2015 convictions for two counts of unlawful contact with a minor; corruption of minors; endangering the welfare of children; indecent assault on a person under 13; and indecent exposure.
The offenses took place between 2008 and 2011 in Ramsier’s homes in Lawrenceville and Carnegie, from when the victim was 9 to 12 years old, according to court documents in his criminal case. The mother reported the abuse to authorities after learning of it by reading her daughter’s journal. According to the lawsuit, Light of Life put Ramsier to work in 1998 at the mission, ”where he had access to and influence over people with drug addictions, alcohol addiction (and) homelessness,” many of whom had children. The lawsuit said Ramsier gained the trust of the victim’s mother through a Light of Life program for addicts and homeless people. After Ramsier got involved with Door of Hope, so did the woman and her daughter, who regularly stayed at Ramsier’s home and knew him as “Pappy.”
When the girl was about 9, Ramsier exposed himself and touched her private parts, according to criminal-court documents. The girl said she was afraid to tell anyone. When she was about 12, the girl awoke to find Ramsier fondling her, the documents said. That was the same modus operandi as Ramsier’s 1995 assault on the Washington County woman during a nighttime apartment break-in, according to court documents in that county. Light of Life public relations manager Kate Wadsworth said Ramsier left his employment with Light of Life in 2006. She declined to comment further on the case. She said that that currently the agency conducts criminal background checks on all potential workers. The Rev. Nathan Doyle, the Pittsburgh District Superintendent for the Primitive Methodists, said Ramsier was not an ordained minister but had been working toward such credentials. Ramsier was “removed officially immediately upon hint of impropriety,” said Rev. Doyle. The Lawrenceville congregation has about 40 members, he said.
Ramsier pleaded guilty in 1996 to indecent assault, a misdemeanor, and burglary, a felony. He was paroled in 1997.
Peter Smith: petersmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416; Twitter @pg_PeterSmith.
Upon pleading guilty in 1996 for a sexual assault in Washington County, Stephan Ramsier told a pre-sentencing investigator he had accepted Jesus as savior and was staying sober and turning his life around. Treatment specialists vouched for his effort to mend his ways. But his victim told the judge she feared he would strike again. Years after Ramsier’s eight-month term behind bars, he did. Two Christian ministries in Pittsburgh that later employed Ramsier — despite the public record of his criminal conviction for indecent assault and burglary — now face a lawsuit filed by the family of a girl he sexually assaulted between 2008 and 2011.
Named in the suit are Light of Life Ministries — a North Side mission that works with homeless men and other needy individuals — and Door of Hope Community Church in Lawrenceville. The legal complaint was filed Monday in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. The suit says the ministries knew or should have known they were putting a convicted sex offender on staff. Also sued are the regional and national organizations of Door of Hope’s parent denomination — the Primitive Methodist Church in the USA — as well as Ramsier himself and his ex-wife Sherry Ramsier.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages on various counts of negligence against the defendants, saying they enabled Ramsier to exploit vulnerable people, including the plaintiff, who is not named to protect her identity. “We’re trying to get this girl some help for the future,” said Homestead attorney Mark A. Smith, representing the family. “God knows she’s going to need it.” Stephan Ramsier is now serving consecutive sentences of two-and-a-half to seven years each at SCI Somerset after his 2015 convictions for two counts of unlawful contact with a minor; corruption of minors; endangering the welfare of children; indecent assault on a person under 13; and indecent exposure.
The offenses took place between 2008 and 2011 in Ramsier’s homes in Lawrenceville and Carnegie, from when the victim was 9 to 12 years old, according to court documents in his criminal case. The mother reported the abuse to authorities after learning of it by reading her daughter’s journal. According to the lawsuit, Light of Life put Ramsier to work in 1998 at the mission, ”where he had access to and influence over people with drug addictions, alcohol addiction (and) homelessness,” many of whom had children. The lawsuit said Ramsier gained the trust of the victim’s mother through a Light of Life program for addicts and homeless people. After Ramsier got involved with Door of Hope, so did the woman and her daughter, who regularly stayed at Ramsier’s home and knew him as “Pappy.”
When the girl was about 9, Ramsier exposed himself and touched her private parts, according to criminal-court documents. The girl said she was afraid to tell anyone. When she was about 12, the girl awoke to find Ramsier fondling her, the documents said. That was the same modus operandi as Ramsier’s 1995 assault on the Washington County woman during a nighttime apartment break-in, according to court documents in that county. Light of Life public relations manager Kate Wadsworth said Ramsier left his employment with Light of Life in 2006. She declined to comment further on the case. She said that that currently the agency conducts criminal background checks on all potential workers. The Rev. Nathan Doyle, the Pittsburgh District Superintendent for the Primitive Methodists, said Ramsier was not an ordained minister but had been working toward such credentials. Ramsier was “removed officially immediately upon hint of impropriety,” said Rev. Doyle. The Lawrenceville congregation has about 40 members, he said.
Ramsier pleaded guilty in 1996 to indecent assault, a misdemeanor, and burglary, a felony. He was paroled in 1997.
Peter Smith: petersmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416; Twitter @pg_PeterSmith.
