In September 2022, a federal judge in Missouri sentenced 38-year-old former youth pastor Jesse E. Vargas to 13 years and 4 months in prison for sexually abusing an underage St. Louis girl in 2013.

According to court records, the defendant, originally from New York state, met the girl...

In August 2022, a federal lawsuit was filed against one of two Christian boarding schools in Cedar County, Missouri. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff sustained abuse in the now-closed education center. 

This lawsuit is not the only one of its kind. Since 2020, at least thirty independent lawsuits...