Southwestern Baptist seminary chief of staff gave order to make sex abuse report ‘go away’
About a week after a former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary provost was indicted on a charge of falsifying records, school officials confirmed that a staff member told another employee to make a report of sexual assault “go away.”
The indictment and allegations at the Fort Worth theological school are the latest development in the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into sexual abuse and misconduct at Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated organizations. Matt Queen, former interim provost at Southwestern Baptist, was indicted May 21 after he failed to inform the FBI of a conspiracy to destroy evidence in the investigation and instead produced falsified records, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
According to a statement posted Wednesday by seminary President David Dockery, a Southwestern Baptist dean, Terri Stovall — who was referred to as “employee 1” in the indictment — was the staff member who documented the report of a student committing sexual assault in November 2022.
Stovall followed institutional procedures and notified the chief of the campus police, who took no further action, the statement says. The chief is no longer employed with Southwestern Baptist. The Burleson Police Department arrested the student who was accused of sexual assault.
In January 2023, Stovall discussed the document she prepared regarding the assault with Heath Woolman, who was the seminary’s chief of staff at the time, and Queen. It was in this confrontation that Woolman told Stovall to make the document “go away,” according to Dockery’s statement.
As of August 2022, all Southwestern Baptist employees were made aware of the DOJ’s investigation into SBC organizations, Dockery said. Employees were also told to provide any relevant documents in response to a subpoena.
Dockery said in the statement that Woolman denied telling Stovall to make the document “go away.” Queen also initially told authorities and Dockery that he did not hear Woolman instruct Stovall to get rid of the document, according to the release.
“For nearly five months we operated within the tension of knowing that employees in whom we had confidence had differences of recollection regarding the January conversation,” the statement reads.
It wasn’t until a follow-up interview with authorities in June 2023 when Queen admitted hearing Woolman give Stovall the instruction to destroy the document.
Queen, who had pleaded not guilty to the indictment, resigned as interim provost shortly after and was placed on administrative leave. Woolman has not been charged in the investigation.
Woolman resigned as the school’s chief of staff on May 5, 2023, to accept a pastoral position. Dockery says that knowing what he knows now, he would have not vouched for Woolman as he previously did to help him earn his current position. Woolman is currently pastor of Fruit Cove Baptist Church in St. Johns, Florida.
“If asked to provide the same recommendation today, and based on information received subsequent to that time, I would not be able to provide the same recommendation,” Dockery said.
“This episode is a matter of deep regret to me,” Dockery said. “I am, however, grateful that several employees in whom I placed great trust acted responsibly, especially Terri Stovall. I commend the service and integrity of these employees. We remain resolute to continue to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice in all aspects of this investigation.”
