"Two alleged victims one who is now an adult identified as Jane Doe and another who is 16 and identified as AC filed separate lawsuits last week against Crossline, accusing the church of negligence, after they allegedly were recorded by the refurbished computers given to them by Hart. The lawsuits allege Crossline Community Church officials were aware Hart had been convicted in Oregon for a similar offense when they hired him in 2012 to manage the church's audiovisual and computer technology operations."
"Crossline knew when they hired Mr. Hart that he had a prior conviction for invasion of privacy and (had) an addiction to pornography, said the lawsuit filed Jan.15 by Jane Doe in Orange County Superior Court. Crossline allowed him to work in close proximity to children, manage audiovisual and technology operations, and provide IT assistance to church members, including Jane Doe's family."
"The lawsuits stem from a federal investigation into Hart, who was arrested in June 2025 at Miami International Airport while returning from a mission to Haiti. A search of his electronic devices by U.S. Customs and Border Protection found 33 videos of child sexual abuse and approximately 160 AI-generated sexual images of minors, according to the suit."
Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills faces lawsuits alleging that former audiovisual and IT manager Jacob Melvin Hart gave refurbished computers to juvenile congregants that contained software allowing him to secretly record them nude in bathrooms. Court filings indicate possible additional juvenile victims and note several church staff resignations after the breach. Two plaintiffs — one adult identified as Jane Doe and a 16-year-old identified as AC — filed negligence suits claiming church officials knew Hart had a prior invasion-of-privacy conviction and a pornography addiction when hired in 2012. Hart was arrested in June 2025; customs agents found 33 videos of child sexual abuse and about 160 AI-generated sexual images of minors on his devices.
Read at www.ocregister.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]