EL PASO COUNTY, COLO. -- A former teacher and volunteer coach for the Hilltop Baptist School have filed a lawsuit against the church claiming wrongful termination, slander, and libel.
Laurie and Dustin Sutton claim they were terminated as a result of reporting unlawful conduct.
According to the lawsuit, the couple heard that a teacher at their school had engaged in conduct of a sexual nature with one of the high school students.
Court documents state 32-year-old Terah Rawlings, who was indicted Wednesday on a sexual assault case involving a 15-year-old male, is the teacher they were referencing.
In December 2010, they reported the information to Pastor Wayne Knight. Knight advised them he had previous knowledge about the matter and promised to investigate.
But one month later their employment was terminated.
Indictment papers for the former Hilltop Baptist School principal Jan Ocvirk, reference the Sutton's report. Ocvirk told them not to go to law enforcement and told them it should be kept within a small group meeting.
Knight is also at the center of another heated complaint, this one coming from a former church member who said her two sons and one of their friends were molested.
According to our source we'll call "Sarah" the three children all under 10 years old, were molested by Brett Rowland in 1996.
"I was angry. I've been angry ever since this happened because it affected their lives forever. When a child's molested you can't take that back."
"Sarah" and Rowland met at Hilltop Baptist Church when they were both members.
FOX21 News found court documents that confirm "Sarah's" claim.
Rowland plead guilty to two counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust in 1997.
"Rowland was a member at Hilltop and he touched a child at Hilltop in the children's program. They put him out of the church for that but never told anybody else. If they had I would have found out and he never would have been around my kids."
In light of Wednesday's indictments "Sarah" is angry at the church because she said they knew of Rowland's history but withheld the information.
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