5 Former Capital Christian School Students Accuse Teacher Of Abuse, Say School Covered It Up

Two brothers are among five former students who filed a lawsuit against Capital Christian School and a former teacher accused of abuse and a cover up.

Capital Christian School in Rosemont, California is at the center of a lawsuit brought about by five former students, including brothers Scott and Darren Sorgea, who claimed that former teacher David Arnold had groomed and abused them. The lawsuit brought about by other plaintiffs Dan Schumacher, Robbe Taylor and Kevin Williams seeks damages for "negligence, negligent supervision and retention, negligence per se, sexual harassment, and sexual battery."

Fox 40 reported that as per the complaint, David Sorgea and Williams, who at the time were just 16 years old, were in Arnold's class before their junior year. The former teacher introduced himself telling the boys, "God has called me to take care of you in every way possible."

Former Teacher at Capital Christian School Groomed and Abused Male Students

In the lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court on April 19, plaintiffs recounted how Arnold would invite the young boys to his apartment individually to help him grade papers and in return give them cash, the Sacramento Bee reported. Arnold, who also worked as a football coach, yearbook adviser, and school newspaper staff, would then ask the boys to play a "game" in which he would tie them up and blindfold them and order them to escape while he stepped out of the apartment and went to the store.

The lawsuit describes how Arnold had not in fact been going to the store but instead would watch and photograph the young boys as they struggled to escape from captivity. The Capital Christian School teacher allegedly masturbated as he watched the young boys struggle to escape.

The "abusive incidents" escalated when Arnold would handcuff Scott Sorgea to a chair before blindfolding him, claiming to be "toughening" up the student. The Capital Christian School teacher would then turn up the volume of the television to prevent the student from knowing the abuser was still in the apartment.

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Capital Christian Center Responds to the Abuse Cover Up

Capital Christian Center, the ministry behind Capital Christian School, is now being led by Senior Pastor Rick Cole, the son of the late Glen Cole, who was instrumental in building the ministry. Cole admitted feeling "nauseous" while reading the lawsuit brought about by the five former students of their school. He added that he was "certainly heartbroken" over the reports of the five students at the hands of their faculty. Cole began serving at Capital Christian Center in 1995 and admitted he had never heard of Arnold before the lawsuit was filed.

But the lawsuit alleges that Cole's father knew about the abuse and was dead set on covering it up. Quoting the late pastor, the lawsuit read, "Nobody is going to bring down my school. Not Arnold, not those boys, not anyone."

Arnold is now 73 years old and last worked as an associate professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, which confirmed that he had been employed at the school "from 2003 to Spring 2022."