(CP) A day after suffering “a slight health incident” while preaching on Sunday, Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, filed a defamation lawsuit against former-pastor-turned-registered sex offender Duane Youngblood, who alleged he was sexually assaulted by Jakes when he was a young person some 40 years ago.
“The underlying story on this case depicts a fastidiously planned effort by a convicted criminal, and people acting in concert with him, to rewrite history in an effort to deflect blame and accountability for his own reprehensible and criminal conduct and to publicly smear a renowned and eminently respected religious leader in a blatant and explicit try to extort him for thousands and thousands of dollars,” lawyers for Jakes wrote within the 20-page lawsuit filed within the Western District Court in Pennsylvania during which they detailed Youngblood’s history of abusing minors since no less than 2002.
Jake’s lawyers noted that Youngblood was first arrested on charges of sexual assault and corruption of minors and other charges while he served as a pastor of a church in Homestead. In that case, Youngblood was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old in 2002 while counseling the boy. The teen sought counselling from Youngblood because a cousin had molested him, based on a police affidavit.
Youngblood, who’s on parole under the supervision of Pennsylvania’s Department of Parole, was also charged with inappropriately touching two teenage victims while he was counselling them between 2009 and 2011. In one instance, he reportedly engaged the victim on about 25 occasions.
“On all occasions, Youngblood has pleaded guilty and admitted to his heinous crimes,” the lawsuit notes.
Jakes’ lawyers noted that despite his background, Youngblood has conspired with others to extort Jakes, and the aim of the renowned pastor’s lawsuit is to stop the conspiracy and the pain it’s causing Jakes.
“This lawsuit is meant to bring that scheme to a halt, to finish the intense emotional, physical, and spiritual toll Defendants’ conduct has caused Bishop Jakes, to set the record straight so the world understands the patent falsity of the accusations, and to revive Bishop Jakes’s fame,” they note.
Jakes, 67, filed the lawsuit against the 58-year-old Youngblood, who claimed in interviews with web personality Larry Reid on his “Larry Reid Live” show on Oct. 28 and Nov. 3 that Jakes assaulted him when he was about 18 or 19 years old.
Youngblood claimed to Reid that he had been talking with Jakes for about two hours at the house of an older adult clergywoman, where he was staying during a neighborhood church revival roughly 40 years ago when Jakes tried to kiss him.
“After sitting there and having this long discourse with him, I finally checked out my watch, and I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, I got to go. I got to get this automobile back to my mother. She’s gonna kill me.’ So I said to bishop, ‘I got to stand up,'” Youngblood recalled.
“And I got up from the table, he got up from the table, he walked around toward the best way I needed to exit quicker than I got over there, and after I began to walk past him, he pulled me to himself, wrapped his arms around me, and tried to kiss me. And in that moment, I literally died.”
The morning after the encounter, Youngblood alleges Jakes called his home and intimated that he wanted him to turn out to be a neighborhood sex partner.
“My mother answers the phone, and he or she says to me, ‘Duane, it’s Elder Jakes.’ Jakes and I get on that phone and after I get on that telephone, I can hear water. He is sitting in a bath, and in that thing, he says to me, with none hesitation, ‘there’s three things I would like you to do. The first one is, after I come to Pittsburgh, you are going to be the one person I sleep with. The second one is you possibly can’t sleep with anybody else because I don’t desire to provide my wife anything. And thirdly, I’ll handle you the remainder of your life,” Youngblood, who’s now a registered sex offender because of his past abuse of minors, claimed during his interview with Reid.
Days after making those allegations public, Jakes’ attorneys said an attorney representing Youngblood sent a requirement letter to Jakes on Nov. 24 demanding $6 million “to ‘resolve this matter quickly and privately;’ otherwise, Youngblood would bring a lawsuit against Bishop Jakes for sexual assault and harassment.”
Jakes’ lawyers, who noted that the interviews went viral, said Youngblood’s allegation caused the megachurch pastor thousands and thousands of dollars in reputational harm and hurt his physical health.
“Youngblood’s lies have put in jeopardy the critical philanthropic missions Bishop Jakes spearheads and has likely impaired significantly the advantages that the recipients of such efforts receive. And Youngblood’s intentional and malicious lies have taken a considerable emotional and physical toll on Bishop Jakes,” the lawsuit alleges. “On November 24 — the day before he filed this motion — Bishop Jakes suffered a medical crisis on stage in the course of his Sunday service in front of his entire church.”
The legal filing further said that, despite his claims, Youngblood shouldn’t be a victim.
“Bishop Jakes believes with all his heart that actual victims of sexual abuse must be treated with the utmost respect, kindness, empathy, and sympathy — and that true perpetrators of such abuse must be held accountable for his or her actions. But that shouldn’t be the case here,” the lawsuit reads.
“Youngblood has used and abused the might of social media and the legal process to revictimize those he preyed on and harmed and to make knowingly false accusations for his own personal and financial gain. Men like Youngblood should be held accountable for his or her abuse of the system and for setting back those with legitimate and real allegations of sexual abuse.”
Asked about Jakes’ lawsuit Wednesday, Youngblood’s attorney, Tyrone A. Blackburn, quoted Matthew 7:15-16.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” he wrote in an announcement to The Christian Post. “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? T.D. Jakes chickens have finally come home to roost. Stay tuned.”
