'Accountability and responsibility': Lawsuit accuses Fort Mill church of turning blind eye to sex abuse

FORT MILL, S.C. — A Fort Mill church is being sued over allegations its leadership ignored years of sexual abuse by a youth leader who was also a Cornelius police officer. 

Attorneys representing three of the victims claimed that MorningStar Fellowship Church ignored the actions of Erickson Lee. Earlier this month, Lee pleaded guilty to committing child sex crimes while serving as a youth leader at the church. 

“This is about accountability and responsibility,” attorney Randall Hood said at a news conference on Monday. “When you provide an environment for young children to participate in church activities, you don’t just get to put them in a room with people that you don’t know anything about. You’ve got to protect them.” 

Lee was a Cornelius police officer before he was arrested in May 2023. He resigned hours before surrendering to York County deputies. 

Warrants allege that Erickson encouraged minors to get drunk at his home in Fort Mill while he was a volunteer with the church. He also reportedly played pornographic videos for the victims. The church addressed Lee’s arrest at the time, saying he hadn’t been involved with MorningStar ministries for several months.

RELATED: Ex-Cornelius officer pleads guilty to child sex crimes in South Carolina after failing to appear in court a day earlier

He was sentenced to nine years in South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to all charges. According to the Rock Hill Herald, Lee was originally expected to receive an eight-year sentence, but failed to appear in court on time and was given an additional year behind bars. According to the Herald, Erickson entered an Alford plea, which means he accepts the sentence and admits that testimony or evidence tends to prove a crime was committed but does not admit to the acts he’s accused of. An Alford plea is still recorded as a guilty plea under South Carolina law. 

Rick Joyner, the founder of MorningStar Ministries, addressed the lawsuit on Sept. 1. In a video posted on his official YouTube page, Joyner denied any knowledge of Lee’s misconduct. 

“I believe it was one of the most atrocious, terrible things that we’ve ever had happen,” Joyner said. “But the accusations in the lawsuit were wildly untrue. I mean, way out-of-the-box untrue, but one of our volunteers used their position, and they were not an employee of the ministry, but used their relationship and some stuff happened with these young men that is just awful. We need to face it and deal with it.” 

RELATED: Former Cornelius officer charged with child sex crimes was church youth volunteer

Joyner said the church won’t view the case from a liability standpoint. Instead, he vowed to do whatever it takes to keep members of the congregation safe and prevent any further abuse. 

“The main thing we’re doing is we don’t want this to happen to anyone ever again,” Joyner explained. “That’s our perspective, we want the truth. We’re looking at this from, ‘We need the truth.’ We’re not going to, if we go to court, we’re not going to be against these victims, we’re not going to be on one side and them, we’re on the same side, we want the truth.” 

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