Jury Awards $2M In Trinity Broadcasting Molestation Scandal

Jan Crouch

Wearing thick rouge and her trademark wigs, Jan Crouch was the abiding face of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, offering Christian-inspired guidance to help viewers around the world improve their lives.

But in recent weeks, jurors in an Orange County courtroom saw a different side of Crouch — who co-founded the evangelical network with her husband, Paul Crouch Sr. — after a granddaughter accused her of turning her back when she reported she was sexually abused.

The LA Times is reporting that Carra Crouch said that in 2006, at age 13, she was sexually assaulted in an Atlanta hotel room by a 30-year-old Trinity employee. When she told her grandmother, Jan Crouch blamed her for what happened and never reported the incident to police, Carra Crouch alleged.

On Monday, the jury awarded Carra Crouch $2 million for her years of emotional trauma and future suffering, finding that Jan Crouch’s response caused outrageous harm.

Jan and Paul Crouch have died since the lawsuit was filed in 2012, but they disputed their granddaughter’s allegations, which were among a cluster of legal actions that have drawn negative publicity to the televangelism empire.

Carra Crouch, now 24, said in her lawsuit that in 2006, she was attending a fundraising telethon for Trinity in Georgia when the employee “coerced himself” into her hotel room and ordered wine from room service. Next, he pressured her to drink and then offered a glass of water, which she contends was laced with a sedative.

When she awoke the next morning, she said blood was on the sheets and her body was sore, “which indicated she had been molested and raped,” according to the lawsuit.