Five women sue Christian the International Churches of Christ trends now

Five women in California have filed a lawsuit against the International Churches of Christ (ICOC) claiming they covered up child sexual abuse and put financial pressure on members leading 'some to take their own lives.'

The lawsuit filed Dec 30 at the US District Court for the Central District of California names the five plaintiffs as sisters Darleen Diaz, 33, and Bernice Perez 31, as well as naming Ashley Ruiz, 31, Salud Gonzelez, 30, and Elena Peltola, 23.

The women claim that ICOC and affiliated organization including Hope Worldwide, Mercy Worldwide, the International Christian Church and the City of Angels International Christian Church 'indoctrinated,' isolated and sexually exploited them while manipulating them through a strict belief system.

The lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone, names leaders Thomas Wayne 'Kip' McKean the founder of the church and the estate of the late Charles 'Chuck' Lucas as defendants. The women also allege that the church leaders established a system of exploitation extracting 'any and all value it can from members.'

Founded in 1979 in Boston by the evangelist McKean, the International Churches of Christ, then known as the Boston Movement, soon became one of the fastest-growing Christian movements of its time.

Today, the ICOC, by its own estimates, has more than 120,000 members across 144 countries, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs claim Lucas co-led the church from its founding.

'It is commonly understood that McKean was acutely aware of the physical, psychological, and sexual abuses Lucas and other church members wrought upon both children and adult parishioners of the church,' the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit further claims that church members were pressured to fund special mission trips twice per year and tithe 10 percent of their income to the church to the point that some were driven to depression and suicide.

'If the tithing budget was not satisfied, leaders or 'disciplers' were forced to contribute the financial shortfall themselves, or members were required to locate the offending member who failed to tithe and sit on their porch until they arrived home in an attempt to obtain their tithe funds before Sunday evening was over,' the lawsuit claimed.

'The pressure to comply with the church's rigid demands was a source of anxiety and depression for many members. So much so that several ex-members committed suicide.'

Church members were also reportedly given a quota for bringing more members into the organization, seemingly for the sake of raking in more contributions.

Sisters Diaz and Perez named convicted pedophile David Saracino as their abuser and claimed the church did not adequately protect them from him. Diaz said she attempted suicide when she was a teenager.

" class="c7" scrolling="no"

His alleged offenses include inviting children to his house to go swimming and once they'd undressed, telling the girls that 'they needed a bath' using the opportunity to 'heavily fondle their naked bodies while they were bathing,' the lawsuit states.

Ruiz claimed he performed oral sex on her. The sisters claim their mother reported Saracino to the church leaders, but, they allege, the church 'tipped off' Saracino, who fled town before the police could arrest him.

'Even though the sexual abuse happened to me in the ICOC at around age five and robbed me of my childhood, the trauma also followed me into my adulthood, where I feel like I am always in survival mode,' Ruiz told Rolling Stone.

'Having some sort of legal closure and acknowledgment about what happened to me as a child will… be tremendously helpful.'

In 2012, Saracino was given the maximum sentence of 40 years for 'forcible rape of a four-year-old girl' in 2004 according to a report from KPLCTV at the time.

Prosecutor Cynthia Guillory told the judge during his sentencing that he is among the 'worst of the worst' – a predator who 'sought our single women with financial problems to gain access to their small children.'

Gonzelez claimed that she was sexually assaulted by a Sunday School teacher for a period of five years beginning when she was 4 years old. She also alleged that she was abused again in a rehab program connected to the church when she was 15, and again when she was 17. According to Gonzelez, the abuses she experienced drove her to a suicide attempt because she lacked support from the church.