Fieger partner sues ex-pastor in abuse case - case also targets wife, Salvation Army
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By Jerry Ernst
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERCorunna, MI - Less than a week after the legal system sent Randall A. VanLandingham to prison for molesting young girls, an attorney associated with Geoffrey Fieger is in line to take on the former pastor, his wife and his church.
"There's no question we will be seeking multiple millions of dollars on behalf of victims," said Ven R. Johnson, who will be the principal attorney in the case but expects his partner Geoffrey Fieger to share in the litigation.Three parents of girls who accused VanLandingham of sexual abuse have filed suit against VanLandingham; his wife, Karen; and the Salvation Army. The VanLandinghams together ran the Salvation Army's Owosso Corps.
Randall VanLandingham was sentenced Friday to 15-40 years in prison after being convicted of charges including first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The girls in the cases were from his congregation.
Johnson said "a number" of other families have contacted his firm about possibly joining the litigation, and he expects at least some of them to sign up. As of Wednesday, his three clients were the only people to have filed suit.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army has withdrawn the legal assistance it had earlier provided VanLandingham, and Shiawassee County Prosecutor Randy O. Colbry still has not revealed whether he will pursue further charges.
Robert D. Ashley of Owosso, VanLandingham's attorney, said he does not know whether he will represent VanLandingham in any appeal.
"I would imagine that he'll be appealing. That's my expectation," Ashley said.
Colbry said an appeal would have to be filed within 42 days of Friday's sentencing.
Dallas Raby, general secretary of the Salvation Army district that oversees the Owosso Corps, said the church will not contribute to his defense in any appeal. It also will not assist him if he is tried again on nine more counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and indecent exposure, he said.
"By policy, the Salvation Army does advance funds for legal defense of an officer accused in the line of duty," Raby said, but the money is to be returned upon conviction or confession.
The Salvation Army revoked VanLandingham's ordination upon his conviction, Raby said, so there remains no active connection between the former captain and the church. Raby said he has no response to the lawsuit because he has not yet seen it.
He said he had no estimate of the cost of VanLandingham's legal defense. Colbry and members of families of victims and alleged victims have blasted the church for underwriting VanLandingham's defense.
A parent of one girl whom VanLandingham allegedly molested, according to the second round of charges, said Colbry met with families this month "and said everything but that he didn't plan to prosecute on the second (round of cases)."
The parent said prosecutors "know he's going to appeal. It's a given."The Flint Journal has been unable to reach Karen VanLandingham since Monday.
Chris Gleason of Brighton, foreman of the Livingston County jury that convicted Randall VanLandingham, said Karen VanLandingham should have resisted her husband's practice of being alone in his basement with young children, if for no other reason than the impression it could leave.
"There was some common sense that was missing" on her part, he said.
Johnson was more critical, saying Karen VanLandingham "encouraged these parents and families to allow these children to have direct access with her husband who clearly was acting inappropriately in her own home. ... Why would your 40-some-year-old husband be downstairs with young girls watching Disney movies?"
Colbry said he expects a decision in the near future on whether to further prosecute VanLandingham. The pastor would not receive additional prison time even if convicted of all remaining counts; the second-degree criminal sexual conduct and indecent exposure counts carry maximum sentences of 15 years or less.