I recently came across a Facebook page called ‘DFW Exposures‘. Whoever runs this page is exposing sexual predators, sometimes publishing text messages and other forms of proof. They continually fight with Facebook to keep their content up, and sometimes will post on YouTube to keep it online. I applaud their efforts in alerting the public to sexual predators, because it’s not easy.
One story they published involved a former youth pastor by the name of Richard Galvan. In 2007, he allegedly sexually assaulted a 17 yr old young woman who was a member of his youth group, and she had finally gone public with his name. I attempted to contact the person behind DFW Exposures but inadvertently connected with the victims’ husband. He asked if I would write a post about their experience, which I agreed to do. This is a story you will want to pay CLOSE attention to.
Hannah's Story
As a teenager, Hannah (Linn) Crews was a member of the youth group at Northway Bible Church in Harlingen, TX. She had attended this church for many years. Richard & Sonia Galvan served as youth pastors at the church in the early 2000’s. When Hannah was a 17 yr old high school student, she alleges that Richard Galvan sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in Mercedes, TX in August 2007. The following is an excerpt from a deposition that Hannah provided during a legal proceeding, that provides the timeline of events.
III. FACTS
5. Hannah Crews met Richard and Sonia Galvan as friends of her family before she was a teenager. She and her family attended the Northway Bible Church in Harlingen, Texas along with the Galvans, and the families spent much time together as close friends outside of church activities. Richard Galvan was Hannah Crews’s youth pastor from the age of thirteen and at all times relevant to the facts herein. In the summer of 2007, when Hannah crews was seventeen, she suffered a traumatic break up with her high school boyfriend. Richard Galvan, as her youth pastor and family friend, offered Hannah Crews a job with his company, Orbit Broadband, and offered to counsel her about her breakup.
6. At work at Orbit Broadband, Richard Galvan would call Hannah Crews to his office on an almost daily basis to discuss her feelings and pray over her. During these visits, Richard Galvan would inquire about the details of Hannah Crews’ physical relationship with her ex-boyfriend. Richard Galvan would ask for details regarding what specific intimate acts Hannah had performed with her ex-boyfriend. Eventually, Hannah Crews was convinced to divulge to Richard Galvan that she was still a virgin and had never been sexually active with her ex-boyfriend.
7. During these counseling sessions which occurred at Richard Galvan’s office, Richard Galvan would tell Hannah Crews that her physical attachment to her ex-boyfriend was the cause of her heartbreak. Richard Galvan went on to claim to Hannah Crews that healing happens through intimacy. Richard asked Hannah to explain what she thought she needed to do to move on from her pain and trained her to respond that having sex would heal her. Once Richard Galvan conditioned this response, he offered to, “help her out with this.” Richard explained in a counseling session that, as her mentor, it would be safest if Hannah Crews had sex with him instead of someone else.
After many of these conversations and sessions, Richard Galvan convinced seventeen year old Hannah Crews that he would not be taking her virginity but that she would be giving it to him because she was trusting him to help her heal spiritually and emotionally. Richard Galvan convinced Hannah Crews that it was ok to have sex with him despite her closeness to his wife Sonia Galvan, stating that Sonia Galvan would never know about the sex and Hannah Crews should not worry about hurting Sonia Galvan by having sex with him.
8. In subsequent counseling sessions, Richard Galvan began to “educate” Hannah Crews on various sexual acts and stimuli to get her prepared for the day she would have sex with him. After several weeks of these sessions, Richard Galvan rented a room at the La Quinta Hotel in Mercedes, Texas and instructed Hannah Crews to meet him there. This occurred at the beginning of volleyball season of Hannah Crews’s senior year of high school, in August, 2007. Richard Galvan was fearful of being discovered at the hotel. Richard Galvan convinced his youth parishioner Hannah Crews to have sex with him at La Quinta Hotel in the room he had obtained. Afterward, Hannah Crews traveled with her volleyball team to a pre-season game.
9. After exploiting Hannah Crews into having sex with him based on promises of emotional and spiritual healing, Hannah Crews’s mother discovered text messages between Hannah and Richard. Richard Galvan was confronted and told to tell his wife about the encounter. Richard stated that he had done so. Later, Hannah Crews had a conversation about the matter with Sonia Galvan, who told her it was not her fault and Richard Galvan had a problem sending, “mixed signals” to young girls. Soon after this, Richard and Sonia Galvan left their positions at Northway Bible Church. Richard subsequently told Hannah Crews that no one would believe her if she tried to tell anyone what he had done.
10. Richard Galvan subsequently visited Hannah Crews at her college during her freshmen year and tried to get her to go back a motel room with him. Hannah Crews refused. Hannah Crews subsequently learned that Richard Galvan has been inappropriate with other girls she knows. She believes that the potential remains for similar exploitive behavior to occur again between Richard Galvan and other girls. Hannah Crews is familiar with the standards in the community where Richard Galvan resides and believes that the residents of Cameron County, Texas have a public interest in preventing adults in positions of authority such as Richard from coercing and sexually exploiting and abusing young women.
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**Additional details:
“Shortly after, Hannah’s mother found out that Richard had sex with Hannah. Richard came to Hannah’s house, confessed to Hannah’s mother about it, and Hannah’s mother told Richard to tell his wife. Hannah subsequently had a phone conversation with Sonia about it. Hannah insisted she did not want to press criminal charges because “Richard told me if I ever spoke about this with anyone, that no one would believe my story.” In December 2007, shortly after Hannah’s phone conversation with Sonia, Richard and Sonia quit as youth pastors and left the church completely. According to Hannah, she later learned that Richard had also been inappropriate with other girls she knew and that the other girls were also teenagers at the time of their interactions with Richard.“
the outcry
Hannah went on to get married and moved away from the Harlingen area. She told her husband (Blaine Crews) about the 2007 assault, but had never named the perpetrator. In 2018, she disclosed to her husband that the person who had assaulted her was her youth pastor, Richard Galvan. Blaine was (justifiably) infuriated and contacted Richard Galvan via his wife Sonia’s cell phone number. Â What happened next is recounted below in excerpts from a court deposition.
Years later, Hannah married Blaine, and she shared with him that she had been taken advantage of by her youth pastor but did not disclose the identity of the individual. In October 2018, Hannah told Blaine for the first time that the pastor was Richard. After learning of Richard’s identity, Blaine became very upset and obtained Sonia’s cell phone number and texted her. Richard called him back almost immediately. Blaine was concerned that Richard may “still be associating himself with youth and placing himself in a position to take advantage of other young women under his authority.” According to Blaine, during his conversation with Richard, Richard acknowledged that the events Blaine recounted about Richard’s sexual relationship with Hannah were true. Blaine told Richard and Sonia that he was concerned about Richard being around young women and that people needed the information about his interactions with Hannah to determine whether Richard should be around their daughters. According to Richard, “Blaine Crews . . . expressed that since Hannah Crews’ father never did anything in 2007, that Blaine Crews would do something about the alleged seduction and manipulation and would have used a bullet to do it.” Blaine also informed Richard that he intended to contact Richard’s church and the school of Richard’s children, where Blaine believed he associated with young women. Blaine subsequently called Richard’s church and the school of Richard’s children and informed them of Richard’s history and past conduct towards Hannah.
On November 5, 2018, Richard and Sonia Galvan filed a defamation lawsuit against Blaine & Hannah Crews in Cameron County, TX, along with a temporary restraining order (which they did not receive).
Who is Richard Galvan?
Richard Galvan, along with his wife Sonia, were youth pastors at Northway Bible Church in the early 2000’s.. He has claimed to be a graduate of the University of Texas, but he does not have an earned degree, according to court depositions, and in fact only has a GED. They are private business owners who currently attend Livingway Family Church in Brownsville, TX. Richard and his wife appear to be active in the Harlingen community, particularly with youth. Below are images of Galvan at a local school and with students appearing on Shark Tank. It’s concerning that Galvan chooses to engage with students in the community.
ARREST IN 1992
Galvan had been arrested previously in 1992 for solicitation of prostitution during an undercover police sting operation (not convicted due to the officer’s failure to appear). Below are the details of the arrest and affidavits. In deposition interviews, Galvan initially denied he had been arrested, then when presented with the arrest records, he admitted to it. He also stated that ‘he did not remember‘Â if the undercover officer was male or female.
THE LAWSUIT
“In or around November 2018, Richard and Sonia Galvan (The Galvan’s) filed a lawsuit against the Crews’s for Defamation Per Se, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Public Disclosure of Private Facts, and Civil Assault. The Crews’s filed a Motion to Dismiss via the Texas Anti-Slapp Statute on the grounds of freedom of speech in regards to a matters of public concern in which the trial court denied. They immediately appealed the decision and took it before the 13th Court of Appeals in Texas in which the Memorandum Opinion written by Chief Justice Dori Contreras reversed the judgement of the trial court, dismissing the Defamation per se cause of action. The Galvan’s have since nonsuited all of their remaining causes of action against the Crews’s.”
The Galvan’s underestimated Blaine Crews.
When the lawsuit was filed by Richard & Sonia Galvan in November 2018, the Crews’ attorney obtained depositions. In those early depositions, the Galvan’s initially had an opportunity to tell their side of the story. Richard did not deny that he and Hannah had sex in August of 2007. He also did not deny that it was abuse of power by clergy as alleged by the Crews’s. I’ll come back to this.
(BTW, Blaine Crews has done an AMAZING job documenting the events surrounding Hannah’s outcry, the lawsuits and behavior of the Galvan’s. The court depositions are a MUST READ (videos are also linked).
In October 2019, the Galvan’s lawsuit against the Crews’s was dismissed. In June 2020, the Crews’s were awarded mandatory sanctions and fees by the 445th District Court in Cameron County, Texas.
“Richard Galvan and Sonia Galvan, who initially brought the lawsuit against the Crews’s are ordered to pay $45,000 in Sanctions to deter them from filing frivolous lawsuits related to this matter again. They are also required to pay attorney fees in the amount of $25,800, and other costs of $1046 .50 and 567.87. All of Richard Galvan and Sonia Galvan’s causes of action have either been dismissed or non-suited in this case. Plaintiffs Richard Galvan and Sonia Galvan filed a motion for sanctions against the Crews’s as well as a motion for continuance- both of which were denied.”
**The Crews’s have filed a counter-claim against the Galvan’s for Malicious Prosecution and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress for the filing of their original lawsuit. This counter-suit is ongoing and pending.
Why this case is so important?
Now that I have outlined the facts in this case, let’s dive into why it’s so important for sexual abuse victims.
The Galvan’s suit agains the Crews’ was an attempt to silence Richard Galvan’s victim – period. It’s a fear that every sexual abuse victim has when making a choice to go public by naming their abuser and telling their story. The Crew’s bravely fought that battle and WON. Here’s how…
The Crews’ filed a motion to dismiss/Anti-SLAPP, which means they were wrongfully being accused of defamation AND believed it was in the public’s interest and concern to tell their story, as well as alert any organizations where Richard Galvan had access to underage young women. Â In Texas, if a person exercises their right to free speech by going public with an alleged crime committed by someone, that is a matter of public concern, not defamation. What was the crime that Richard Galvan’s committed? Sexual assault by clergy.
This is where the Galvan’s fought back. They tried to convince the court that Richard Galvan did not act in the role of youth pastor at Northway Bible Church, therefore he could not have committed a crime. That simply was not true. Here are some excerpts from Richard Galvan’s deposition taken in May 2020.
Richard Galvan emphatically denied being the youth pastor at Northway Bible Church. The Crews’ attorney then presented evidence that Galvan WAS in fact the youth pastor at Northway Bible Church, when Hannah Linn was a member. Below is a court transcript from Richard Galvan’s deposition in which the Crews’s attorney reads an email from the pastor of Northway Bible Church, Kelly Rumfield, acknowledging that Richard Galvan was the youth pastor when Hannah attended that church.
Additionally, there are media articles that specifically state that Richard Galvan (along with his wife Sonia) were youth pastors at Northway Bible Church. They also served as assistant youth pastors at Church of the Living Word. (see email below)
Because the Crews’ attorney was able to prove that Richard Galvan acted in the role of a youth pastor, the courts determined that Blaine Crews did not defame the Galvan’s, since what Richard Galvan did to Hannah was considered a crime in Texas (even though the statute of limitations had expired). It was a matter of public concern.
Also in Galvan’s earlier depositions, he never denied that it was sexual assault, which he had many opportunities to do (this was also noted in the May 2020 deposition).
Scrubbing the Internet
The Galvan’s are worried about their reputation (as they should be) and have apparently made a concerted effort to have articles and case information removed from the internet. Luckily Blaine Crews & his attorney were able to screen capture the news articles listed above because they no longer exist online. Blaine’s blog shows how the Galvan’s have used their expertise & resources to have incriminating content removed, including negative Google reviews for their business, G-5 Internet Services. They are also paying to improve their online reputation.Â
What about Sonia?
Sonia Garza Galvan has repeatedly defended her husband, downplayed the sexual assault of Hannah Linn, and apparently lied multiple times in court depositions. I typically feel bad for the wives of pastoral abusers, but in this case, I can’t manage to muster much sympathy for a woman who repeatedly minimizes her husband’s alleged criminal behavior. Sonia believes that a 17 yr. old high school student ‘seduced” her then-38 yr old husband, and then for some strange reason allowed him to go on a mission trip with Hannah a year later. Make this make sense.
Sonia’s family owns several prominent funeral homes in the Harlingen/South Texas area – Rudy Garza Funeral Home. Sonia’s sister, Sandra Garza (who is employed at the funeral home), contacted the Crews’ and threatened them.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
When it is discovered that someone in ministry has been credibly accused of sexual assault, the FIRST thing that needs to happen is to call the police. The SECOND thing that needs to happen is to alert all of the churches that the alleged perpetrator has attended, served or volunteered at. Why? To protect vulnerable children & young adults.Â
Blaine Crews did exactly this. He contacted the Christian school where Richard Galvan’s children attended and the church the Galvan’s were attending, Livingway Family Church. What response did Blaine get from the pastor of Livingway, Bill Moore? ABSOLUTELY NONE. The only person from Livingway who has interacted with Blaine Crews in any way is their son Marcus, who commented on a FB post. In court depositions, the church’s assistant testified in support of the Galvans. According to Blaine, Livingway Family Church has blocked him on Facebook and threatened to sue the Crews’s.
Blaine also reached out to the south Texas chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes to warn them about Galvan, since he had served on their board. Guess what they did? THEY BLOCKED HIM!
These are the absolutely atrocious responses that sexual abuse victims receive when trying to hold their abusers accountable while trying to warn/protect others.
AGAIN…make it make sense.
A former attendee of Livingway reached out to Blaine and had some troubling things to say about a former youth pastor as well as other leadership.
A former employee of Rudy Garza Funeral Homes reached out to Blaine concerning Sandra Garza:
Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Blaine Crews is a hero in my book folks.
As I was researching and writing this post, I continued to be amazed at the amount of documentation that he had gathered, and while reading this documentation, I marveled at how he advocated for his precious wife. I”m sure Hannah knows she is married to one of the good ones.
What Blaine & Hannah have done here is groundbreaking in my opinion. They didn’t cower or flee when they were sued by the Galvans, and by standing strong, have set a legal precedent for clergy sexual assault victims going forward.
- It is NOT slander/libel IF IT’S TRUE
- It is NOT defamation if it’s a matter of public concern
- Clergy Sexual Abuse is a crime, regardless of age
- You can fight back against these abusers and WIN
I look forward to the outcome of their current litigation against the Galvan’s and hope and pray they win their case.
What needs to happen now?
Richard Galvan needs to be removed from ANY positions (volunteer or otherwise) that involve working with youth and to never be allowed to work with underage youth again.Â