A former Southwestern Baptist Seminary employee won’t serve jail time after pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI about an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and its entities.
Matt Queen, formerly a professor and interim provost at Fort Worth’s Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was charged last May with one count of falsification of records and one count of false statements to law enforcement. The charges were part of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation involving a sexual misconduct case that later led to an arrest of a student in January 2023.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced Queen to six months of house arrest, one year of probation and a $2,000 fine, according to court records. Queen is also required to participate in an “outpatient mental health treatment program.”
The Fort Worth seminary released a statement after Queen’s sentencing, saying the school “has fully cooperated with the Department of Justice’s investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s response to sexual abuse” and “remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of our community.”
“With the criminal justice process now complete regarding the charges against Matt Queen, we are hopeful that the investigation will soon reach its conclusion, allowing all parties to move forward,” the seminary’s March 5 statement reads.
The case involving Queen and the seminary are part of the larger ongoing investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse allegations. Queen marks the first Southern Baptist to plead guilty and face federal criminal charges related to an abuse investigation.
Investigation stems from 2022 sexual abuse case
A grand jury subpoena was issued to the seminary in approximately October 2022, according to case documents. It required the school provide documents related to sexual abuse allegations against anyone employed or associated with the seminary.
About a month later, in November 2022, the school’s Dean of Women Terri Stovall received a report of sexual abuse allegations against a then-student. Heath Woolman, the former chief of staff of the seminary, allegedly asked Stovall to make the report “go away” during a meeting where Queen was present.
The Fort Worth seminary released a statement in January 2023 that the school had become aware of an outstanding warrant for then-seminary student Christian Flores.
“Southwestern Seminary Campus Police began working with the Fort Worth Police Department and the Burleson Police Department to locate and arrest the student,” the January 2023 seminary statement said.
Flores turned himself in and was arrested by the Burleson Police Department in January 2023, according to a seminary statement. He was also suspended from school, pending the outcome of the investigation.
During a May 2023 meeting between Queen and the FBI, Queen allegedly “falsely stated” that he had not heard one employee direct the other to destroy the document. In June 2023, Queen testified under oath that he had heard Woolman ask Stovall to make the document “go away.”
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.
Queen began pastoring at a Baptist church in North Carolina in March 2024. After he was indicted in May, that church put him on leave. Queen later resigned in November, according to a statement from Friendly Avenue Baptist Church.
Attorneys disagreed over sentencing
Sam Schmidt, Queen’s attorney, originally asked the judge to sentence Queen to a year of probation and a $2,000 fine, arguing that the “impact of lying was not substantial” to the “local criminal investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse.”
“Though lying to a federal officer during an investigation is a serious offense, the Sentencing Guidelines recognize that it is much less serious than most of the offenses that result in prosecutions in this courthouse,” Schmidt wrote in the Feb. 19 letter.
Matthew Podolsky, prosecutor and acting U.S. attorney, asked Kaplan on Feb. 26 to sentence Queen to probation and house arrest, arguing that “the defendant’s attempts at minimization should be squarely rejected by the Court.”
“Finally, the defendant insists that his conduct had no ill effect but that too is untrue: the defendant’s repeated lies dragged out the Government’s investigation and distracted resources better spent elsewhere,” Podolsky wrote.
With Queen’s case now closed, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said in its March 5 statement that the school plans to continue praying for Queen and his family “as well as all others involved in this process.”
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.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.