Legacy Church and Steelbridge Ministries sued for alleged sexual abuse

Legacy Church, and its local nonprofit Steelbridge Ministries, are being sued related to alleged sexual abuse by former executive director and pastoral member Travis Clark.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month in 2nd Judicial District Court, a woman — listed only as Jane Doe — alleged that Steelbridge’s former executive director Clark, a pastoral member of Legacy, sexually abused her after she was ordered to rehab with Steelbridge in 2021 by a district court judge as part of her probation.

“Under New Mexico law, it is illegal for somebody providing counseling to have a sexual relationship with somebody that they’re providing counseling to,” said attorney Shayne Huffman of Huffman Wallace & Monagle, the law firm representing the woman. “That includes ministers, priests, rabbis or any other sort of religious leaders in that capacity providing pastoral counseling.”

Following the allegations, by July 2021, Clark was no longer affiliated with Legacy or Steelbridge. It is unclear if Clark resigned or was fired.

He then began work at Crossroads for Women, a nonprofit that specializes in providing housing and therapeutic services to formerly incarcerated women, according to the organization’s website. Crossroads for Women neither confirmed nor denied that Clark still works there when the Journal called last Wednesday afternoon.

In 2014, Clark was acquitted of a criminal complaint that alleged Clark, who was then a high school teacher and coach, sexually assaulted a student in Colorado Springs.

In the most recent lawsuit, Doe said she felt coerced into engaging in sexual activity because Clark was the one who would determine if she would graduate from her disciplinary drug program. If she failed the program, the woman knew she would have to return to jail.

According to the complaint, Clark once told the woman, “I hold everyone’s freedom in my hands” while referring to Steelbridge residents in treatment.

A statement to the Journal from Legacy’s lawyer Matthew Davis, of the Dallas law firm Jones, Davis & Johnson, said the lawsuit contains “numerous unproven and specious allegations,” and Legacy will “vigorously defend itself against these false allegations.”

Legacy threatened legal action against Doe’s legal counsel and members of the media who dared write about her allegations, the group said in a statement. Steelbridge Ministries did one criminal background check prior to Clark’s hiring in 2019, and conducted two more during his employment, both of which came back with no concerns, they said in a statement.

Charles Vigil, an attorney for Steelbridge Ministries, declined to comment.

The details

The lawsuit seeks judgment against all three defendants in a reasonable amount to compensate for damages, and seeks punitive damages as well.

Second Judicial District Judge Daylene Marsh ordered Doe, who had battled drug abuse since 2017, to inpatient rehab at Steelbridge in late 2020 after her release from the San Juan County jail, according to the complaint, which was filed Dec. 2.

Clark provided the woman with counseling sessions, the complaint states. During the sessions, Clark allegedly asked Doe sexual questions, including on her sexual activity and preferences.

Two weeks after meeting Doe, Clark began allowing the woman “special privileges, including taking her out of the facility in his vehicle,” the complaint alleges. Clark began to demand sexual favors from the woman shortly thereafter, according to the complaint.

The sexual advances continued after Clark reportedly had the victim clean his home for money, according to the lawsuit. Clark owns a cleaning company — Complete Cleaning Solutions — and exploited the labor of Doe and other Steelbridge residents by having them clean homes and businesses, according to the complaint.

After several months, the victim left the drug program early. Because she did not graduate from the program, she had violated her probation conditions and was sent back to jail in the spring of 2021.

The lawsuit said the woman “had been conditioned to believe Clark was a good person and that she was a bad person, which further interfered with her ability to recognize Clark as an abuser and facilitated her self-blame.”

The plaintiff later told her aunt, Bertha Gomez, about the alleged abuse. Gomez was a respected figure at Legacy Church and reported the abuse to Legacy.

As for Doe, “she’s no longer incarcerated,” Huffman said. “She’s finished with all of her requirements to complete rehab so she’s in recovery now and trying to move forward with her life.”