Created for mobs and the mafia, could this law apply in a church sexual abuse case?
Women who say they survived sexual abuse within a group of conservative Baptist churches are using an unusual legal method to try and hold their alleged abuser accountable — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law was passed in 1970 as a way to prosecute mobs as whole entities rather than try mob-related activities individually. RICO has most notably been used to prosecute criminal enterprises such as the mafia, gangs and corrupt police departments and politicians.
On Wednesday, attorneys argued before a U.S. District Appeals Court that RICO should be applied to the case of two women who say Dave Hyles, an independent fundamental Baptist church leader, sexually abused them.
Joy Evans Ryder and Rhonda Lee are among hundreds of women who allege abuse within the independent fundamental Baptist church community, which spans across the country. Several of the churches are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including the Southwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, and the Star-Telegram uncovered dozens of abuse allegations in a 2018 investigation. Like in many sexual assault cases, statute of limitations laws have kept the women from bringing their accusations before a court.
In a press release from the group Blind Eye Movement, a group that supports and advocates on behalf of sexual assault victims at independent Baptist churches, Ryder said she hopes the judges apply RICO to the case.
“Not only would it give us our day in court,” she said, “but it would provide potential justice for sexual assault victims who are being denied the opportunity to have their cases heard by a jury.”
‘Novel interpretation’ of RICO
On Wednesday, Ryder and Lee’s attorneys, Jeremy Bailie and Kyle Bass, brought the RICO complaint before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Illinois. The case is in Illinois because Lee and Ryder say Hyles would take them to a hotel in Chicago to rape them during IFB recruitment trips.
The court will decide whether or not the attorneys can bring RICO claims against Hyles and his associated enterprises, which include a church in Indiana, the Hyles-Anderson College and various related ministries. The complaint also names “unknown co-conspirators,” Bailie said, who may have helped cover up and perpetuate a culture of sexual abuse.
To Bailie’s knowledge, this may be one of the first times a RICO claim has been brought forward in a case dealing with “the obstruction of justice, cover-up and concealment of sexual abuse.”
The argument is “a bit of a novel interpretation” of RICO law, Bailie said, but “it’s certainty within the text of RICO.”
For RICO to apply to a case, attorneys must prove a person engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity connected to an enterprise. The law defines 35 offenses as constituting racketeering. In this case, the women’s attorneys say Hyles obstructed justice, which is one of the 35 offenses, when the church leader “covered up and concealed sexual abuse.” The enterprise in this case would refer to any churches, colleges and other related properties managed by Hyles.
Civil RICO complaints must also include evidence that someone lost money or property in the case. In this case, Bailie said the women lost money when they paid for courses at Hyles-Anderson College and were unable to fully participate in those classes due to the alleged sexual abuse and torment they suffered.
“They paid money for participation in these things, and, of course experienced horrible sexual assault and abuse that interfered with their enjoyment and participation of those activities,” he said. “Which we said was a property interest they were deprived of.”
Pattern of abuse in IFB churches
If the Seventh Circuit Court in Illinois ruled to allow the RICO complaint to be brought against Hyles, Bailie said the impact would be enormous for sexual abuse and assault victims.
“Anytime there is a case law that comes out that says, ‘here’s how you can proceed on claims like this,’ it’s a huge leg up for anybody who is similarly situated,” he said.
The three judges assigned to the case will likely make a decision within three months.
Ryder, Lee and their attorneys first filed the RICO complaint in July 2020. Hyles and attorneys with the church filed to have the complaint dismissed, which a court agreed to do in July 2021. The decision was appealed, leading to Wednesday’s hearing.
Within the independent fundamental Baptist community, at least 168 church leaders have been accused or convicted of sexual crimes against children, a Star-Telegram investigation found in 2018. However, many of the abuse cases are limited by the legal statute of limitations. In many cases, the alleged abusers can no longer be charged with crimes that occurred decades ago. Ryder, Lee and their attorneys hope their RICO case paves a legal way for victims of sexual abuse everywhere to hold their abusers accountable.
Ryder was 15 years old when she says Hyles, who was her church youth director, pinned her to his office floor and raped her. Hyles was the son of the pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, which was considered at the time to be the flagship for thousands of loosely affiliated independent fundamental Baptist churches and universities. Lee, who also attended the First Baptist Church of Hammond, said she was 14 when Hyles first sexually abused her.
At least three other teen girls accused Hyles of sexual misconduct, but he has denied the allegations and never faced charges.
In a move that became a pattern within the churches, the women said, Hyles was moved from church to church when allegations of abuse arose. He became the pastor at the Miller Road Baptist Church in Garland in the 1980s, where another woman reported he molested her as a child. As of 2018, he ran a ministry for pastors who have fallen into sin in Tennessee.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
