A Texas clergyman has been ordered to pay nearly $700,000 for accusing a Des Moines minister of being a “child predator.”
The judgment comes in a libel case Bishop Dwight Reed, leader of the Christ Apostolic Temple in Des Moines, who sued Bishop Demetrius Sinegal of Houston for libel. The dispute centered on the 2021 marriage of Reed, then 63, to a 19-year-old member of his congregation.
Former Christ Apostolic members alleged to the Register that Reed had inappropriately pressured the younger woman and her family and had heaped abuse on current and former church members who criticized him.
Sinegal, founder of a group that advocates for victims of clergy abuse, publicly denounced Reed in 2022, describing him as a “child predator,” among other remarks. Reed sued Sinegal, his nonprofit and his church, and Sinegal later filed counterclaims against Reed.
Polk County Judge Jeffrey Farrell entered the default judgment last week against Sinegal. writing that Sinegal had attacked Reed’s marriage “for the clear purpose of fund-raising … to make money for his own selfish purpose.”
He called Sinegal’s conduct “puzzling and disturbing” and said Sinegal had failed to comply with court orders, appear for hearings or answer discovery questions for more than two years, effectively abandoning the case.
Accordingly, Farrell granted judgment in Reed’s’ favor and dismissed Sinegal’s counterclaims. To assess damages, Farrell considered the reported drop in donations to Christ Apostolic after Sinegal’s accusations and ordered him to pay $345,000. And because he found Sinegal’s statements “were willfully and wantonly in disregard of the Reeds, who had entered into a legal marriage,” he also assessed punitive damages, doubling the total owed to $690,000.
The Reeds, in a statement through their attorney, praised the ruling and said they intended to pursue all options to collect the judgment.
“The court’s detailed judgment found that the allegations brought against us were unfounded,” they said. “The judge’s ruling noted ‘it is questionable under this record whether Bishop Sinegal operates a legitimate church and that [the] defendants seized on the age difference in the Reeds’ marriage and made libelous social media statements for the purpose of making money.’”
Sinegal, in a news conference streamed online after the order, blamed the default judgment on miscommunications with his previous attorney ― a claim Farrell found “not credible” in his order ― and said he intends to continue the fight.
“Dwight Reed will never see a dime of any of that,” Sinegal said of the judgment. “New counsel will be filing the motion to set aside the default judgment so that the merits of the case can be litigated in the court.”
As of June 24, one week after the default judgment, no new attorneys have filed to appear on Sinegal’s behalf.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines minister who married teen congregant wins libel lawsuit
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