Former Lutheran pastor in Bell Gardens accused of abuse

Three men alleging that a Lutheran pastor in Bell Gardens sexually abused them when they were children filed lawsuits Wednesday seeking compensation from the church.

The complaints filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court for unspecified damages contend that church officials were aware of the pastor’s pedophile behavior during his 18 years as head of the Lutheran Church of San Pedro y Pablo but sought to cover it up and silence the victims.

The alleged abuser, Frank Brundige, turned himself in to authorities four years ago and was relieved of his ministry then, said Larry Stoterau, president of the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Brundige, 51, is serving a 24-year sentence in an Arizona prison for child molestation, said Anthony DeMarco, the Beverly Hills attorney representing the latest plaintiffs. At least five other complaints have been filed against Brundige, DeMarco said.

Stoterau, who is identified in the complaint as one of the church officials with knowledge of Brundige’s behavior, said he had not seen the complaints filed Wednesday and could not respond to the allegations, but said “there is no truth” to the suggestions that church officials tried to shield Brundige from authorities.

In the complaints filed by DeMarco on behalf of the now-adult men identified only as Juan Does, Brundige is accused of using his position as head of the small Latino congregation “to gain access to young boys and sexually molest them.”

“There are probably countless other children who haven’t been able to shake the shame and fear to come forward,” DeMarco said when asked what had prompted the lawsuits four years after Brundige’s guilty plea.

Brundige was pastor at the Bell Gardens church from 1989 until his arrest in 2007. Other church officials knew as early as 1991 that the sole clergyman at the church with only a few dozen parishioners committed the abuse while “having boys routinely spend the night with him one at a time,” the complaints allege.

Two of Brundige’s superiors in the 1990s, as well as Stoterau, who has been regional president since 2000, are named in the complaint.

Officials of the regional church hierarchy were informed about a beating allegation in 1991 and met with the parents of the 13-year-old victim, the legal filings allege. Neither the pastor nor his supervisors reported the incident to police or encouraged the parents to do so, the complaints say.

“Instead, defendants, utilizing their religious influence over the parents, coerced them into silence,” the complaints say.

Brundige conducted Friday night Bible study classes, church-sponsored piano classes, sleepovers, camping trips and outings to the beach, activities “where parents were encouraged to allow their children to spend the night,” according to the complaints.

About 15 years ago, one suit said, a board member of the church witnessed Brundige fondling a boy’s genitals and resigned from the church but never reported the incident to authorities.

The plaintiffs are now 32, 20 and 19, and suffered abuse at various ages and times during Brundige’s tenure as pastor, DeMarco said.

carol.williams@latimes.com