A woman who told police her former pastor and foster parent sexually abused her revealed her identity this week. Lily Masterson said the alleged abuse didn’t destroy her faith, but it did make her less trusting of people.
“I never lost my faith in God in this,” Masterson told WFIE TV station. “I lost my faith in humanity when it comes to just blindly putting my trust in people, even the ones we think are safe to go to.”
Masterson went to police in February, saying Pastor Errol Wright raped her more than a hundred times over three years, starting when she was 15, the TV station previously reported. Authorities jailed Wright on March 13. He was released after posting nearly $48,000 bond on Tuesday, his court docket shows.
Wright is charged with four felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, one felony count of child seduction, and one felony count of child solicitation, according to the court docket.
At the time of his arrest, Wright, 48, reportedly pastored Community Christian Church in Tell City, Indiana, a small town on the border with Kentucky. The church does not list any denominational affiliation.
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Wright pastored Community Christian for several years but is no longer pictured on the church’s website. A photo on the church’s Facebook page shows Wright conducting a baptism there shortly before Masterson spoke with police.
Masterson told her story on video in the TV station’s broadcast, and her sister offered supporting details. Masterson told WFIE that Wright was her guardian starting when she was 15. He reportedly became the church’s pastor shortly afterward.
Masterson initially believed she would be safe with the church leader. “He was just like a monster just hiding in plain sight,” Masterson told the TV station.
An affidavit reportedly shows Masterson told police Wright raped her up to three times a week, including many times at Community Christian Church and once on vacation in Jamaica.
The affidavit also indicates Wright was a girls’ soccer coach at the local high school at the time.
According to the affidavit, Wright was barred from being alone with students beginning around 2018 after rumors of an inappropriate relationship surfaced. The school reportedly forwarded the allegations to the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Masterson eventually told her sister, Mashell Masterson, what was happening.
Mashell encouraged Lily to turn Wright in to authorities, she recalled. But “she was scared. She had nowhere else to go, nowhere else to live, no one else to look after her.”
Mashell Masterson also questioned the school’s treatment of Wright, arguing that “whoever decided to keep him on the staff should be fired.”
Lily Masterson left Wright’s care when she turned 18, she said. She battled depression, dropped out of college, used illicit drugs, and was homeless at one point, she told the TV station.
However, Masterson entered rehab last year and sought therapy. She now says her life is getting better.
Updated: Terminology regarding child sex assault has been updated.
Sarah Einselen is an award-winning writer and editor based in Texas.
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3 Responses
This creep better enjoy daylight while he can, as he may have a short life in prison (given how other convicts despise these particular offenders). Not that I will shed a tear if that happens, mind you.
It seems these evil people prey on children who have bad or non existent family and parents. No one to run to. They take advantage of innocents rather than seeing them as children to make a positive difference for and make up for what they most likely have had to go through. I think that’s double bad!
“It seems these evil people prey on children who have bad or non existent family and parents.”
Predators go after the easiest prey first.
Less effort/energy expense for the payoff/calories.
If a predator spends more energy/calories taking down the prey than they can get from eating the prey, the predator loses.
“No one to run to.”
Less risk for the predator.
If the prey is able to take the predator down (defend successfully), the predator loses.
If the predator wins but the prey is able to injure/disable the predator, the predator loses.