Lawsuits Accuse Ex-California Megachurch Pastor of Child Sex Abuse and Trafficking

Two Romanian men filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in California on Tuesday, alleging that former Harvest Christian Fellowship pastor and missionary Paul Havsgaard sexually abused and trafficked children at a shelter he ran in Bucharest for eight years. The complaints name Harvest Christian Fellowship founder Greg Laurie and several senior church leaders, saying they failed to prevent the abuse and provided support that helped Havsgaard operate abroad.

The lawsuits describe Havsgaard luring struggling street children with fast food, shelter and education, then subjecting them to sexual abuse and trafficking at the shelter. The men, Marian Barbu and Mihai-Constantin Petcu, allege dozens of children were abused over the eight-year period. The complaints portray life at the facility as harsh and abusive, and they accuse Havsgaard of frequent upsetting conduct, including entering bathrooms during showers and undressing, and in some cases masturbating in the presence of boys. The suits also allege that Havsgaard pimped older boys for sex work via video chats or in bathhouses and took a cut of their earnings.

The plaintiffs say Havsgaard returned to California with some of the children and raised money for Harvest by presenting himself as someone rehabilitating street children in Romania. They allege the church deposited about $17,000 each month into Havsgaard’s personal bank account. Harvest Christian Fellowship acknowledged funding Havsgaard’s initiative for a period, but said most of what is in the lawsuits about the church is false or slanderous, and that Havsgaard should be the target of the claims, not the church or its founding pastor. A church spokesman said the allegations are a form of financial extortion and that the church attempted to engage with the plaintiffs while reporting their accusations to law enforcement, which the plaintiffs and their attorney did not cooperate with.

Barbu, who is 33, said in the complaint that conditions at the shelter resembled a