The lead Pastor at Hudson’s non-denominational mega church Christ Community Chapel tweeted late last week that sex abuse charges against two workers at an orphanage in the Philippines affiliated with a local pastor have been dropped.

The Sankey Samaritan Orphanage was founded by CCC Pastor Tom Randall, a missionary and former professional basketball player in the Philippines who was detained in Manila earlier this year when investigations of misconduct began.

Randall’s imprisonment sparked a massive social media campaign petitioning for his release. (That bizarre story is available in full here).  

At any rate, here’s how Pastor Joe Coffey summed up the latest news for the Twitterverse: 


Perfecto “Toto” Luchavez and his son Mark “Jake” Luchavez are the two men in question. Jake is Tom Randall’s godson.  We couldn’t find corroboration from English-language news outlets in Manila, but Coffey tweeted to Scene that the news came directly from Randall’s lawyers. 

Indeed, Randall began his sermon out at CCC this weekend with what he called the “good news,” communicated via his attorneys in the Philippines at 2:30 a.m. a few nights ago. The congregation happily applauded.  

8/31/14 – 10 Degrees Hotter – 2014 Vision Update from Christ Community Chapel on Vimeo.

But it turns out charges haven’t been dropped at all. 

Joe Mauk, a missionary in the Philippines who initially blew the whistle when sexually abused minors smuggled letters to his daughter, has been attending the trials. Here’s an excerpt from his latest Facebook note:

Still incredible to see what is trying to be manipulated behind the scenes. As you may remember Aug. 8 there was a hearing where none of the witnesses received notices. The presence “by chance” of one of our fellow rescuers caused the judge to re-schedule the hearing for three weeks later, Aug. 29. We arrived for that hearing last Friday with 4 victims ready to give testimony and 11 others attending in support of them, including the former principal of the Cugley (Sankey) School and her husband (Alice and John Shepherd), also the teacher (Shirley, who received the first written reports smuggled out by two girls and passed them on to my daughter), my daughter and her husband, Trevor and Kathy Hill and others.

At first the attorneys of the two defendants did not show up. The judge ordered them to be located and they appeared two hours later. We discovered that this is still not the trial. It was a continuation hearing on the defense motion to quash. They were making the argument that the arrest of the two was not proper in procedure. They objected to any testimony being entered as to the abuses reported to be going on but only wanted to prove that the two were not actually committing a crime at the time of the arrest. The only witness called was the NBI agent from the Manila office who organized the raid.

Although the argument about invalid arrest should not apply to institutional abuse/human trafficking cases, they pressed issues like “where were they standing and what were they wearing at the time of the arrest?” At the end of the testimony the judge ordered both sides (the government appointed prosecutor and the privately-hired defense attorneys) to present their final written arguments in a matter of days. After which submission, he would make a ruling on the motion to quash. The prosecutor asked for more time to prepare, the defense agreed to an extension and the judge dictated a memorandum to both attorneys instructing them to present their final written arguments within 60 days

Sounds a bit different than “all charges dropped” and “raid deemed completely unjustified,” as Coffey communicated to his congregation and his digital disciples. Randall made it sound like he had several conversations with folks on the ground in the Philippines after his initial call from the attorneys, so it seems odd that he’d be so misinformed. 

Mauk, in a message to Scene, communicated his frustration with the legal tactics at play. 

“The last few months there have been no arguments as to the truth of the charges,” Mauk wrote,  “only technical arguments on whether the actual arrest procedure was valid. This is the old technique of seeking to get valid charges tossed out over a legal technicality….Even had it been successful, they are not being truthful. A failure to proceed to trial on a technicality is not the same as all charges being dropped! The truth of the charges was never examined!” 

Mauk has been characterized by Coffey and his supporters as a “rival missionary” with a “personal vendetta,” but continues to fight for justice for the victims in Manila. Requests for comment were not immediately returned by Pastor/Media Relations Guy Tim Schofield at Christ Community Chapel (but this story will be updated when and if he does). 

#timeandtruth.  

This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2014.

Sam Allard is a former senior writer at Scene.

12 replies on “Hudson Pastors Continue to Doctor Story About Sex Abuse in the Philippines”

  1. Even Coffeys tweet ” charges dropped” and Tom Randalls statement in church “WILL be dropped” contradict each other. Don’t know how a multitude of people in attendance at the hearing know the charges have NOT been dropped, that Tom Randall and Joe Coffey WERE NOT in attendance are the only TWO (2) who are stating the charges have been dropped. Coffey and Randall have a lot to lose when the truth is revealed that their congregation has been misled and not told about the victims and the serious criminal charges against st Toto and Jake…sodomy, rape and abuse!!!

  2. Prayerfully after their lawyers are finished doing what layers do, Joe Coffey and the leadership at Christ Community chapel will appoint an independent investigator to find out what really happened. I also pray Christ community chapel will take responsibility for getting any children who were affected, the care they need and take steps to limit the possibility of reoffending if any of their staff were responsible for the alleged abuse directly or indirectly by their acts of commission or omission.

  3. My instinct is CCC will never hire a private investigator…I believe they would prefer it never happened and sweep it and the victims under the carpet. For them to state all charges dropped (Joe Coffey) and the hearing is still ongoing seems to prove that they want everything to go away in my opinion.

  4. christians, muslims, jews you are having one hell of a year, stand up and take a bow.

    How many more humans can you fuck up?

  5. “Hey, I don’t know the facts in this case, so I’ll speculate that these people I don’t know are liars.” Sounds legit.

  6. Hi Sam! Tom Randall is planning on returning for a visit to the Philippines to visit ‘his kids’. As per his FB announcement, this November 20th. Perhaps he mentioned it last night during his event at the Hudson church! Whatever may be….just wondering if you have any follow-up? This story isn’t dead in the water just yet!

  7. Tom Randall and his $2.1 million dollar non-profit was dissolved shortly after all the news broke about the abuse at the orphanage. Conveniently for all parties, World Harvest Ministries was absorbed by Christ Community Chapel Hudson. Why did he have that much in assets for work in a poor country? Were donors and potential donors aware of the assets as they were asked and continue to be asked to support World Harvest with their donations? Likely not. Nor were they likely privy to the court documents detailing the oral sex some of the boys were forced to commit. Instead he is heralded as a hero and, in fact, returned to the Philippines and the friendship of the perpetrator, Toto, who was never absolved of charges. Not was his rapist son,Jake. After delay after delay and undoubtedly greased palms of officials, the case was laid to rest. The strong, wealthy, and well-connected were championed, the children/young adults (of whom at least 9 came forward to report the abuse) were left to deal with the painful aftermath. And the “whistleblower”? Continues to be vilified for standing up for the abused, fighting for justice in the face of intense opposition, and losing a lifelong friend and ministry partner who refused to listen to the truth and pridefully covered up these atrocities. In a recent FB post, Tom mentions the “meddlesome witch hunt.” To Joe Coffey and the leadership of CCC and all the other community leaders who have chosen to take the word of Tom over facts and the testimony of those who were sexually abused, shame on you! You are poor representatives of Jesus, a man whose whole life was devoted to the oppressed, the overlooked, the marginalized. I pray truth will one day be revealed to all and that these young people will then finally be free to try to heal from the damage done to them and the further damage done through many acting to ignore, cover up, and even question ether validity of their stories.

  10. As is usually the case with corrupt behavior, the quickest way to uncover the truth is FOLLOW THE MONEY.

  11. Checked out Randalls newest post on FB…..in it he actually admits to being on the Interpol Blacklist, being previously detained during his last trip, as well as enlisting the help of high-level Philippine officials so that he could travel freely while visiting the very kids (now young adults) he allowed to experience such devastating abuse. The Philippine judicial system has never dropped the case of the Sankey Samaritan Home for Children and the rampant sexual abuse instigated by the home administrator Toto Luchavez, Randalls right-hand man for years, and Toto’s son, Jake (Toto is shown in the current pics on FB during this Nov-Dec 2017 visit with Randall). Nor has the DSDW (Philippine social services) dropped the case as they do not comment on open cases. Thus, why there is no comment from them. This is still alive, folks.
    And yes…..follow that money.

  12. Shame on Joe Coffey for sweeping this under the rug. Reminds me of the catholic diocese. It amazes me that people become so cultivated by these supposed christian hero types that they dont use common sense let alone intellect. If they truly believed there is a God watching their every move they would be honest and forth coming. Again, so shameful…….

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