3 women complained to church about Rev. Bryan Fulwider's 'sexualized behavior' during period police say he was raping girl | Special report

Dec. 4--During the same period police say Rev. Bryan Fulwider was repeatedly raping a girl he met through his church in Winter Park, three women came forward to report inappropriate "sexualized behavior" by the pastor, show records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

"He used his status as a church pastor to engage in a situation with me that I would not, under normal circumstances, have gone along with," one of the two young women wrote in her complaint, in which she called Fulwider's behavior "highly inappropriate for a pastor, especially a married pastor over twice my age."

The women submitted complaints in 2008 to the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ, which investigated the allegations and found that Fulwider had acted in a way "unbefitting a minister." The Conference ordered him to undergo counseling, yet he remained his in post as senior pastor of First Congregational Church of Winter Park until 2012.

According to police, Fulwider in 2005 began using his position to groom a 13-year-old girl whom he went on to sexually abuse, often on church property and during church-related trips, for years. During that time frame, the three women say the married pastor sent them harassing messages and tried to coax them into inappropriate situations.

Fulwider, 59, committed suicide last month, weeks after his arrest on a slew of felony charges that stemmed from the girl's accusation that he sexually abused her for five years.

Fulwider, one of the "Three Wise Guys" who co-hosted the weekly radio show "Friends Talking Faith" on 90.7 WMFE, pleaded not guilty and was awaiting trial when he died.

The church documents were turned over to the Winter Park Police Department in response to a subpoena and obtained by the Sentinel through a public records request.

Two of the women who in 2008 complained about inappropriate conduct by Fulwider were young leaders, both in their 20s, in different United Church of Christ churches, records show. The third was a fellow pastor who attended a 2006 meeting with Fulwider and other church leaders. All three filed their complaints on the same day.

Rev. Shawn Garvey, the current senior minister at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park, responded to a request for comment with a statement that did not directly address the allegations against Fulwider.

"Our Church strives to make decisions rooted in compassion, wisdom and prayerful discernment," Garvey said in the statement. "As we continue to journey as a family of faith through the profound emotions raised by events from a decade ago, we have been fully cooperative, and will continue to cooperate in the process."

The attorney who represented Fulwider in his criminal case, Jacob V. Stuart Jr., did not respond to a request for comment.

'It could happen again'

One of the women to file a complaint said she met Fulwider at the church's 2007 annual meeting and they ended up drinking at the hotel bar with other attendees. She said Fulwider put his number in her phone and she was surprised when he texted her later that night. She initially tried to brush it off as a result of his drinking -- but the texts continued.

"The text messages had a sexual undertone that made me uncomfortable," she wrote in a letter to church leaders. "I didn't know if he was joking or if I was reading too much into it."

According to the text messages she shared with church leaders, Fulwider told her she was beautiful and cute, and wished her "sweet dreams." He also said his wife approved of their "torrid love affair."

A few weeks later, on Ash Wednesday, Fulwider texted her again.

"First I thought about you with a smudge of ashes on your forehead," he said. Then, Fulwider repeatedly asked the woman if she wanted to know what he pictured next, to which she replied "I don't know" and later, "If Jesus wouldn't want to know, then neither do I."

Fulwider reassured her Jesus "would be fine" with it.

"Well, you were wearing nothing but a whipped cream bikini," he said.

The woman filed her complaint a year later, after she shared a room at a youth conference with another young woman who had also had an uncomfortable interaction with Fulwider, records show.

"I saw that it wasn't just me, ... and if I didn't say anything it could happen again," the first woman wrote in her letter.

The second woman said she met Fulwider at his Winter Park church in 2008, while waiting a few hours to board a bus to the church's national youth conference, which she was attending as a chaperone, records show.

She said Fulwider invited her to pass the time by test-driving his new car, then suggested they get coffee. But when they arrived at the coffee shop, he instead suggested they get a drink at a nearby pub. Fulwider got her number while they were at the bar and texted her later that he wished he was on the 14-hour bus ride with her. He later asked her to get drinks with him again at the conference and invited her to attend another conference with him in Chicago, she said.

In her complaint, the woman later wrote that she "found it inappropriate that he took me off the church property while I was supposed to be chaperoning a youth event, and neither of us were supposed to be drinking alcohol."

She said she didn't respond to his texts because he made her uncomfortable, and reported her encounter to the Florida Conference of the church to "shed some light on the character of Rev. Fulwider."

"He was very manipulative in his subtle progression of behaviors. ... I feel he abused his power," she wrote.

Fulwider at the time was married to his second wife. They wed in 2002, about three years after he moved to the Orlando area, and filed for divorce in 2014, court records show.

'Unbefitting a minister'

The third woman, a fellow pastor, said her encounter at a board of directors meeting turned inappropriate after Fulwider got her number and texted her both during and after the meeting, asking about coming to her hotel room and meeting for drinks.

"I became uncomfortable when the messages became far too personal and sexually suggestive in nature," she wrote in her letter to church officials.

After a "fitness review" that looked into Fulwider's "inappropriate text messaging and questionable pastoral judgement," Florida Conference United Church of Christ leaders found there was merit to the allegations, calling his conduct "unbefitting a minister of the United Church of Christ."

They sanctioned him with a "prescribed program of growth," which included boundary training by the church's Florida Conference, pastoral counselor meetings to discuss power dynamics in ministry and an evaluation with a certified psychotherapist to evaluate his alcohol use. Fulwider was also told to send apologies to the women.

Records show Fulwider tried to appeal the decision, though there was not an avenue for that within the church. However, in response to his objections, conference leaders reviewed their investigation -- and stood by it.

But fellow leaders from Fulwider's Winter Park church came to his defense, the records show, questioning why they were not involved in the investigation led by the Florida Conference and deciding that Fulwider should continue as First Congregational's senior minister.

The documents gathered by Winter Park police also reference a fourth woman who expressed concern about an "inappropriate touch" by Fulwider.

Though her complaint was not included in the documents obtained by the Sentinel, a 2011 letter to the woman from Florida Conference leaders explained that "everyone always has the right to decline to be hugged" and said the church "take[s] all concerns very seriously," but assured her Fulwider had been given a "program of growth, ... which he completed."

The earliest known sexual misconduct allegation against Fulwider came in 2007, when he was arrested on a battery charge, accused of grabbing a woman's breast while at a resort in Flagler County. According to the arrest report, Fulwider traveled with the woman and her mother to the Palm Coast area and, after the mother went to bed, Fulwider and the daughter drank alcohol together.

He later grabbed her "bare breast," the report said. The charge was later dropped.

The Sentinel is not identifying the women who have come forward with allegations of misconduct by Fulwider and has omitted some details that might identify them.

Interaction raised concerns

Also among the files obtained by the Sentinel are calendars from 2006 and 2007, handed over to police by a retired church employee, as well as notes police said were compiled by the employee this fall.

The notes indicate that several people intervened in February and March of 2006 after Fulwider was seen at a church function "snuggled" with the girl who would later accuse him of rape. The notes indicate Fulwider, when confronted, claimed the girl was infatuated with him and asked for help.

When she came forward to Winter Park police earlier this year, the accuser told investigators Fulwider's inappropriate contact with her had already begun by that point.

The girl told police Fulwider approached her in 2005, when she was 13, to ask for her AOL screen name -- and told her not to tell anyone. Their messages started out benign, but "quickly turned sexual in nature," an affidavit for Fulwider's arrest said.

She said his language became "very vulgar" and, at one point, he video messaged her while exposing his penis.

Later on, she said Fulwider became concerned her mother would notice the messages between them, "so he purchased [her] a 'burner' phone to use."

She said she would go to Fulwider with "any and all issues that [she] was dealing with at home and in school," the affidavit said. He would request nude photos from her and pictures of her in sexual positions, the records said.

Investigators later seized Fulwider's computers, phones and technology in order to see if he still had any such images, records show. The woman said she had seen a folder with explicit pictures on Fulwider's computer as recently as last year, but the records released to the Sentinel did not indicate whether police were able to find any.

The accuser told investigators Fulwider began raping her when she was 14, first at the Winter Park church and, later, during church trips across the state and country.

When she became old enough to drive, Fulwider had "increased access" to her, the report said, and would have her meet him in parking lots and hotel rooms, where he would rape her. She estimated she met him 75 times in parking lots over two years.

Fulwider's arrest came after an almost hourlong call between him and his accuser in October, monitored and recorded by police. The recording has not been released, but police say Fulwider admitted the woman was a victim and he was a predator in the "eyes of the law" and confessed to having had a yearslong "sexual relationship" with her when she was younger than 18.

"[T]here was never anything salacious or bad about it and you were always too damn mature for your own good and I have always loved you," Fulwider told his accuser in the call, according to police. "It wasn't like I was off hunting people. It was a connection."

Out on bond and facing the possibility of life in prison, Fulwider killed himself inside his Altamonte Springs home the night of Oct. 27. Notes he left behind gave instructions for paramedics and his adult sons about the house and tasks in need of completion, but did not address the allegations against him.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, the National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 1-800-656-467 or online at online.rainn.org.

gtoohey@orlandosentinel.com

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