735: Kamp Kanakuk – Republican Sexual Predators

Kamp Kanakuk is one of the largest Christian camps in the United States. They claim to serve over 12,000 children per year at their camp and its satellites. Over the years, they are alleged to have protected child molesters who worked for them.

People who abuse children are naturally drawn toward employment where they are around children, so it is incumbent on organizations such as Kamp Kanakuk to be diligent and to respond promptly and forcefully to allegations of inappropriate behavior and touching, yet Kamp Kanakuk did the opposite. A young girl told her mother she witnessed Pete Newman inappropriately touching a young boy. When the mother reported it to the Kamp, she was told her daughter perhaps did not have Christ in her heart.

Four girls were groped by a fellow camper. When they reported the incident, they were forced to meet with him, apologize for reporting him, and forgive him. (Forgiveness is a powerful tenet of Evangelical faith.) One girl wanted to call home and was denied permission to call home.

There are several convicted sexual predators who worked at Kamp Kanakuk. Many are alleged to have abused children while they worked there, though most were prosecuted for sexually abusing children after they left Kanakuk. The thing is, when Kanakuk let people go without reporting their abuses to police or making clear why they were fired, they were able to go on to work for other places that put them in contact with children, making it easy for them to abuse more children.

William French Anderson was the camp doctor and is alleged to have abused boys in the 50s and 60s. Reports of his abuse were ignored. He was convicted of molesting a child in 2007 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Corbie Dale Grimes was a counselor in the late 70s and 80s. He was actually fired for inappropriately touching a child, though no one reported him to authorities. He later molested a child in Texas.
Chuck Price allegedly sexually assaulted two campers. One victim testified to legislators that she was raped by him in 1985 when she was 8 years old. She said , “And at eight, or 13, or those younger years, when I was trying to tell what happened to me, I didn’t have the strength, I didn’t have the courage, I didn’t have the words or the support. And today I do.” Price was the rare person fired after reports of his misconduct, but he was allowed to volunteer for K-Life, their urban program until at least 2021.
Ed Ringheim worked for Kanakuk in the 90s. He began as a counselor. He was reported for being sexually inappropriate with children, but rather than report him to authorities or fire him, he was reassigned to grounds maintenance. He volunteered with K-Life after he left Kanakuk. He molested at least three boys after leaving Kanakuk and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Robert Shiflet worked there in the 90s. While no one has reported any sexual abuse by Shiflet while he worked at Kanakuk, since then he was convicted of abusing 14 girls. He was released early.
Paul Green visited a camper after he went back home and molested him.
Pete Newman is serving two life sentences plus thirty years for the seven children he pled to molesting. He admits he molested more and there are 57 known allegations of abuse. The prosecutor in his case thinks there are probably hundreds of victims.
Paul James Kerr worked there in the late 90s and early 00s. He later went on to abuse three children at KinderCare. One person has alleged abuse at Kamp Kanakuk.
Robert John Morgan was a pilot who flew private planes for Kanakuk Director Joe White. When he was charged with statutory sodomy of a young relative, White let him stay at the camp while awaiting trial and testified as a character witness. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years.
Matthew Overstreet worked at the came in the mid-00s. While there are no known victims from Kanakuk, he pleaded guilty in 2010 to sexually assaulting a child he met in a youth group.
Lee Bradberry molested children at the camp and pleaded guilty for a reduced sentence of ten years.

Kamp Kanakuk unironically calls its campers Kanakuk Klassic Kampers. Yes, KKK. Is that some ahistorical obtusity or deliberate provocation? It seems Kamp Kanakuk has a stubborn and willful ability to ignore facts and improprieties. They have made many campaign contributions, giving $60,000 to Republicans and $3 to Democrats.