Another Kanakuk camper sues, alleging cover-up of abuse

A former camper has sued Kanakuk Kamps near Branson, a number of its current and former leaders and its insurer. Alex Summersett alleges that he was abused by his counselor, Pete Newman and there was a cover-up.

Summersett said Newman, who currently is serving a double life sentence for child enticement and sodomy, abused him at his family’s home in Texas during a camp recruitment trip and again at Kanakuk’s K-Kamp. He was 14 and 15 years old at the time. The same year that the former camper said his abuse began, Newman was warned by Kanakuk leadership “to stop sleeping alone with children, among other ‘healthy boundaries,’” the suit claims, citing a yearslong pattern of Newman being promoted despite concerns about his nudity and other boundary-crossing behavior with children.

When Newman was arrested, Summersett turned to two camp directors, the daughter and then–son-in-law of Kanakuk CEO Joe White to ask if they had known about Newman’s behavior and to share what happened to him. The filing states that they told Summersett they “didn’t know” and to “back off,” and alleges that their false representations and omissions factored into Summersett’s decision not to pursue a legal claim at the time.

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Kanakuk previously has declined to discuss pending litigation and required abuse victims to sign non-disclosure agreements. The camp portrays Newman as a “rogue employee” and “master of deception,” saying leaders had no knowledge of his abuse before his 2009 confession and arrest. Last year, Kanakuk also sued its insurer, admitting that it had withheld information about Newman’s previous abuse from victims and their families because of advice from its adjuster. Court documents include a 2010 letter from ACE American Insurance Company recommending that Kanakuk not let families know about Newman’s misconduct and the camp’s response, because “such disclosures threaten to expose Kanakuk to greater liability and may interfere with ACE’s contractual right to defend claims and to have Kanakuk’s cooperation in that defense.”

Summersett is the second of Newman’s victims to sue Kanakuk for fraud, following Logan Yandell in 2022. Yandell’s family said the camp similarly claimed that it had no knowledge of the former counselor’s misconduct when they entered a settlement over his abuse in 2010. His case is awaiting trial. Yandell called it “both empowering and heartbreaking” to see another survivor come forward with a lawsuit, a sign of the scope and continued impact of Newman’s abuse through Kanakuk.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice