Heath Woolman, the former chief of staff of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, is accused of instructing the school’s dean of women to make a sexual abuse report “go away,” according to a statement from the seminary’s president Wednesday.
Last week, federal prosecutors charged Matthew Queen, a former professor and interim provost for the seminary, with falsifying records and notes related to a sexual misconduct report that led to an arrest of a student in January 2023. Now, seminary President David Dockery has named the other employees involved in the case.
The case is part of a larger ongoing investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and how the organization and its affiliated entities handle reports of abuse. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth is one of six seminary schools operated by the Southern Baptist Convention.
Dean of women Terri Stovall, referenced as “Employee-1” in the court records, received a report in November 2022 that a then-seminary student had committed sexual assault against an “individual unaffiliated with the seminary.” In January 2023, Stovall discussed a document she prepared regarding the incident with Woolman, then chief of staff for the seminary and in the presence of Queen.
Stovall said Woolman instructed her to make a document regarding a sexual assault report “go away” during a conversation where Queen was present.
Woolman denied Stovall’s accusations in a follow-up conversation with Dockery, Dockery said. Woolman served as chief of staff from March 2022 to May 2023, school officials said. He is now lead pastor at a church in Florida. He could not be reached for comment at time of publication.
In his statement, Dockery said he offered a “brief affirmation” of Woolman’s candidacy for his current pastor position last year. If asked to provide the same recommendation today, Dockery said, he would not be able to provide one given the information he knows now.
“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.”
Prosecutors have not announced charges against Woolman. Queen’s indictment was the first official acknowledgment by the DOJ of an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and how the organization and its affiliated entities handle reports of abuse. As part of that investigation, a grand jury subpoena was issued to a seminary in October 2022.
Queen is charged with one count of falsification of records, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Queen is accused of falsely stating he had not heard Woolman’s instruction during a May 2023 interview with the FBI. The following month, Queen testified under oath that he had heard the conversation.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Queen “attempted to interfere with a federal grand jury investigation by creating false notes in an attempt to corroborate his own lies.”
Queen was put on administrative leave and resigned as interim provost after the seminary learned about Queen’s actions in June 2023, school officials said. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was placed on leave from the North Carolina church where he has served as pastor since February.
“As a Christian, a seminary professor, and now a pastor, my integrity is everything to me and I will cling to that integrity and seek to be vindicated by God and man,” Queen said in a statement through his attorney. “Until that day, I do not intend to comment or discuss this matter further.”
Southern Baptists are the largest evangelical Protestant group in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center. Over 278,000 people in Tarrant County identify as Southern Baptist, according to 2020 data from the Association of Religion Data Archives.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org or @marissaygreene. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.