Mom Alleges 2-Year-Old Was Sexually Assaulted in Detroit Church, Left in Dark Basement
A woman has alleged that her two-year-old daughter was sexually abused at a Salvation Army-run church in Detroit.
The 23 year-old mother, who was not identified by 7 Action News to keep her daughter's identity private, told reporters that when she went to pick her daughter up fron Sunday school in July, she did not find her in the classroom. Instead, she said, she found her daughter naked and alone in the dark in the church basement.
"She was fully nude and screaming for me. I honestly think I went into shock. Seeing her standing there crying I can only imagine how she felt. Like my mom wasn't here for me" the woman said.
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The event only escalated when the woman told her pastor about her daughter's situation and he asked her not to report it.
"We don't need to call the police. You can't go up and down the street talking about this. Meet me up here tomorrow," the woman said the pastor told her.
The woman claims she took her daughter to Children's Hospital where she says tests indicated that her daughter had not been raped but had been sexually assaulted. The exam also stated there were "numerous lacerations to the child's genital area."
There are currently no arrests or suspects in the case, though Michigan police are studying surveillance video and using attendance sheets to question those present.
"What someone suspects may have happened and what we can prove in court are sometimes two different things," Deputy Chief David LeValley said.
For the mother, one of the hardest parts of the ordeal has been that the event happened at her church, a place that she has considered her home for most of her life.
"I really became active in the church when I was like 11 or 12. They've just been a big part of my life," she said.
"I was a member before she was born. Throughout my pregnancy I worked there. I volunteered there. My daughter started going there when she was 6 days old and from there we'd just go. Every Sunday," she added.
She also worries that someone else's child may be at risk.
"These images go through my head of him doing this to another child" she says.
The Christian Post's attempts to reach the Grandvale Corps Community Center by press time were not successful, though in an earlier statement the organization said it expressed "deep concern for the young girl" and that it would continue "to assist the police with their investigation and don't speculate on an ongoing investigation."
