'Systemic Spiritual Abuse': How an Alleged Child Sexual Abuser Went Unchecked

Growing up in the Dallas evangelical community felt like living in “a small town,” Ashley Squires says. Everyone knew everyone, and everyone especially knew the Harmons. The family’s patriarch, Hank Harmon, coached football and taught the high school bible class at Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, which Squires attended in the late '90s and early 2000s.

“Once he’s hired there are multiple accounts of behavior that is inappropriate with other girls predating my client. And they weren’t handed appropriately, they weren’t taken seriously,” Fortenberry said. “He was allowed to continue having closed door sessions with young girls. No one even changed the way they treated him. Nothing was done.”

According to the warrant, Matthew was “heavily involved” in the Branson, Missouri, summer camp, which has now been tied to dozens of cases of child sexual assault. Since Matthew’s arrest, Attwood has been “disappointed” to see Hank Harmon’s “instrumental role” at TCA and Kanakuk underrepresented in the media, because of the freedom she feels it gave Matthew. While Camp Kanakuk has five different campuses around Branson, she remembers noticing the Harmon’s influence while attending K-2, a ​​sports-focused teen camp. A cabin adjacent to the camp is known as the “Harmon cabin.

"When I heard about Kanakuk and Matt, everything just kind of made sense to me, unfortunately. I kind of felt in the back of my head, while I was a student at TCA, that something was off." — Candace Riggs, TCA alumnaSeveral female students, whose times at TCA span multiple decades, have described a culture of harassment, sexism and intimidation dominating their high school experiences.

In the class, Hank often devolved into “crazy tangents,” Riggs said. Students who disagreed with his teachings were required to argue “directly from the bible,” and only if he agreed with their interpretations.

Abuse Trinity Christian Academy Providence Camp Kanakuk

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