By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press
A district attorney has turned over to a special prosecutor the criminal cases accusing members of a secretive North Carolina religious group of holding down and beating a one-time member 13 years ago.
The victim asked a judge to kick District Attorney Ted Bell off the case just days before a retrial — that had been delayed for more than eight years — was about to start in December. Matthew Fenner said Bell sided with the Word of Faith Fellowship. Dozens of former congregants have said the church abused them.
But Superior Court Judge William T. Stetzer sided with an independent investigator who concluded the delays were a combination of a backlog of cases that grew when COVID-19 shut down the courts and attorneys from both sides quitting or having health problems.
Initial case ended in mistrial in 2017
A leader of Word of Faith, Brooke Covington, was first tried in 2017 on second-degree kidnapping and simple assault charges. That case ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman brought his own research into deliberations. Covington has maintained she is innocent.
Fenner joined Word of Faith as a teenager in 2010 with his mother. He was at a service on the church’s compound in Spindale, North Carolina, when members including Covington started what the church called a “blasting” session on him, according to Fenner. Members held him down and choked and beat him for two hours while others prayed to expel “homosexual demons,” Fenner said.
Word of Faith is a nondenominational Protestant church that was founded in 1979 by Sam and Jane Whaley in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlotte and Asheville. Members consider Jane Whaley a prophet.
In 2017, The Associated Press published a series of stories about Word of Faith that detailed former church members’ allegations of abuse. The AP spoke to dozens of former congregants around the world, listened to hours of secretly recorded conversations with church leaders, and reviewed hundreds of pages of law enforcement, court and child welfare documents.
Independent investigator found no special treatment
The independent investigator said he could find no proof of special treatment between Bell and the church. Bell provided a text message in which Whaley asked to talk to the Republican district attorney about Covington’s case and he refused. Bell also said he immediately ended a meeting with a church leader and Republican Party leader about what he was told would be a “personal matter” when he realized it was about the Covington case.
“I am grateful that the truth has triumphed over false statements and innuendo, and that this frivolous petition has been thrown out,” Bell said in a statement.
Bell said Fenner is one of only two victims to whom he has ever given his personal cellphone number.
Covington’s trial was delayed for the investigation and there is no indication of when it may be rescheduled. On Jan. 22, the district attorney requested a special prosecutor to take over the case because of Fenner’s efforts to kick him off the case, saying any prosecutor seeking to try Covington would need to consider whether to tell the defense about potential discrepancies in Fenner’s statements about what happened.
Victim said prosecutor seemed less interested in case as trial approached
Fenner said Bell suddenly appeared less interested in the case as the 2025 trial date approached, not investigating potential new evidence or witnesses.
Bell offered Covington a plea deal to a misdemeanor charge that would drop the felony kidnapping charge, Court records indicate Fenner initially supported the decision, but Bell had to withdraw the offer after Fenner sent him an email saying that was not the desired outcome and that the investigation was tainted.
Fenner wanted Bell and other witnesses to testify in a public hearing that could have revealed more problems with the district attorney’s handling of the case, lawyer Andrew LaBreche said.
It isn’t clear when the case can move forward.
“Matthew Fenner respects the rule of law, accepts the Court’s ruling, and remains committed to the principle that victims deserve not only process, but prompt and meaningful justice,” LaBreche said in a statement.
Associated Press covered Word of Faith extensively
Word of Faith had about 700 members in North Carolina a decade ago, but a sworn statement from a former church leader said membership now had dwindled to about 300 to 400 people.
The AP reported that the church controlled almost every aspect of their members’ lives including who they married, what subjects they studied in school and whether they could go to college. Members were regularly slapped, choked and thrown to the floor during high-decibel group prayer.
The AP investigation also found that the church and its hundreds of followers controlled law enforcement and social services, preventing fair investigations.
Whaley has denied that she or other church leaders ever abused Word of Faith members. She has also said that any discipline would be protected by the Constitution’s freedom of religion tenet.
The church said the allegations made to the AP were false and made by “certain former members” out to target the church and that it does not condone abuse.