Kansas Senate candidate Adam Hamilton admits mistakes were made in church sexual abuse scandal

Kansas Democrat Adam Hamilton admitted during a testy Senate debate Wednesday night that he made a “mistake” by failing to bar a volunteer accused of sexual abuse in 2005 from a retreat where he allegedly abused another boy.Hamilton, a Methodist pastor who runs Kansas’ largest church, is facing late-campaign attacks from incumbent Republican Sen.Roger Marshall over now-convicted sex offender Scott Moore, who was accused of molesting teenage boys at church retreats in 2005 and 2006.The Democratic challenger said an internal review of allegations from two boys in 2005 was “inconclusive” and that police later found the same, but that he still believes Moore should not have been allowed to return to the church in 2006.“I was actually preaching that weekend at Church of the Resurrection, and I did not sign off on him going back.

I should have checked to make sure that he wasn’t going back,” Hamilton said.“That was a mistake on my part.But I will tell you, when he was investigated the next year, we forbade him from working with youth or children anymore.

He left our church angry and upset.And again, we played a critical role several years later in getting him arrested and convicted.”Moore was convicted in 2013 of misdemeanor sexual battery for inappropriately touching his son’s friend at a sleepover in 2010.

Teenagers from Hamilton’s church who alleged abuse in 2005 and 2006 testified against him.In November 2005, a 15-year-old boy alleged that Moore touched his penis and a 14-year-old said Moore reached inside his sleeping bag at an overnight retreat.Prosecutors later wrote in court documents that the two victims provided “detailed” statements to church officials, but weren’t able to positively identify Moore at the time.He returned as a volunteer in November 2006 and allegedly inappropriately touched a 15-year-old boy.The church informed the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, but the county attorney’s office didn’t pursue charges.Hamil...