Chilling Footage Inside Home Where Former Mormon Influencer Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt Carried Out Heinous Abuse Revealed in New Docuseries
Investigation Discovery will release 'Ruby and Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence' on Sept. 1. The four-part docuseries will dive into the 'motivations' that sparked therapist Hildebrandt to influence mommy vlogger Franke to physically abuse her children inside Hildebrandt's $5 million Utah dwelling.
The show, which will air on HBO Max, will shine a light on the ConneXions program, the same program Hildebrandt used to assert her power in the Mormon community and influence the members.
It will also offer up shocking police footage of the discovery of Franke's daughter Eve, then 10, who was starved and abused inside a closet.
Police arrived at the horrifying scene after Franke's son Russell, then 12, miraculously fled the dwelling and ran to a neighboring home, where security footage showed him asking the residents to give him food.
During their search of the property, law enforcement officers discovered torture devices, including rope, handcuffs, and cayenne pepper paste.
The series will also present Hildebrandt's niece, Jessi, who will lay bare the lifetime of manipulation she saw her aunt carry out until her arrest.
'Delving into Hildebrandt and Franke's relationship from both women's respective rise to power and extensive influence within the Mormon community to their eventual arrests in 2023, the docuseries charts the magnetic connection between the two and how the melding of Franke's strict family values with Hildebrandt's controversial beliefs created a microcosm of control, manipulation, and brutality that led to the devastating emotional and physical abuse of the Franke children,' a press release shared with Realtor.com® read.
The press release noted that viewers will see extensive 'archival and police footage,' as well as insight from local journalists who covered the case.
'The disturbing alliance between Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt has captivated and horrified the public, and this docuseries peels back the layers of that relationship through exclusive interviews with family members, former clients, and experts to explore the broader implications of family vlogging and the devastating impact of family abuse,' said Jason Sarlanis, president of Investigation Discovery.
'Ruby and Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence' will premiere over two nights on Sept. 1 and 2, from 9 to 11 p.m. ET on ID. It will also be available to stream on HBO Max.
The trailer for the upcoming series begins with footage of the moment Russell begged a neighbor for food after he fled the house.
In the background, the 911 call that the neighbor placed is played.
'He is obviously covered in wounds, Ruby Franke is his mom's name,' the 911 caller said, before the clip cut to a video of the mommy vlogger.
The trailer then cut to a various people branding Hildebrandt 'insidious' and even a 'cult leader.'
'This was a wolf in sheep's clothing,' someone else in the trailer said.
The five-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home in which the pair carried out the horrifying crimes and were arrested belonged to Hildebrandt and was located in Ivins, UT.
Both Franke, 42, and Hildebrandt, 55, pleaded guilty to the charges against them and, in February 2024, they were each sentenced to four consecutive prison terms, which could see them serving up to 30 years behind bars.
Police video footage revealed officers combing through the dwelling, with one almost breaking down in tears when he discovered a terrified Eve inside the tiny closet.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt were held without bail while they awaited the start of their December 2023 plea hearings—with the latter opting to list her home for sale for $5.3 million just weeks before she was sentenced.
However, the dwelling was swiftly taken off the market after a judge ruled that Hildebrandt had to wait until her sentencing before selling it.
Once listed, the property then sat on the market for quite some time, until it seemed to have finally had a pending sale in March 2025.
However, it was put back on the market in May 2025.
It might well be that the home's links to the horrifying crimes of Franke and Hildebrandt made buyers shy away—despite being described in its listing as having 'stunning features and finishes that will take your breath away.'
According to Franke's former husband, Kevin, and their two older children, Shari and Chad, all of whom had moved out of the family home when the YouTube star was arrested, the mother of six had moved into Hildebrandt's home not long before her arrest, along with her two youngest kids.
Not long after the extent of his wife's crimes was revealed to him, Kevin filed for divorce, which was finalized on March 20.
According to local news outlet KSL, Kevin was awarded full custody of their four children who are under the age of 18, as well as sole ownership of the $1.3 million Springville, UT, home he once shared with Ruby.
Additionally, Kevin was awarded ownership of a 2.8-acre plot of land in Scofield, Carbon County.
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Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Blake Lively Slams & Shames Justin Baldoni's Lawyers Over Making Her Deposition Public, Leaking Details Of Last Week's Sit-Down For 'Media Campaign'
(Updated with Lively's sanctions motion against Bryan Freedman) Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni came face-to-face last week as the It Ends With Us actress gave a deposition in the fierce fight over whether sexual harassment and retaliation occurred on the film and the online fallout around its premiere a year ago. Regardless of what Lively did or did not say in response to questions by Wayfarer Studios co-founder Baldoni's lead lawyer Bryan Freedman and others, a letter from the Another Simple Favor star's own attorneys filed today in federal court makes it pretty clear in hindsight the July 31 sit-down did not go well. More from Deadline ADVERTISEMENT 'In rushing to file on the public docket the entirety of the 292-page transcript on the day they received it, with no plausible legal reason to do so, the Wayfarer Defendants and their counsel have proved Ms. Lively's point,' the correspondence Monday from Esra Hudson to Judge Lewis Liman says slamming Team Baldoni's blunt move and wanting everything permanently sealed ASAP. 'The transcript was ostensibly filed in support of their argument that there is no basis to assert that Bryan Freedman or his firm have participated in, fueled and advanced a smear campaign against Ms. Lively such that their conduct has 'amounted to public relations work rather than that of an attorney.' 'But, in fact, this tactic perfectly demonstrates the counsel-as-PR agent role because there is no conceivable legal purpose to file the whole transcript, particularly given that it has not been reviewed, corrected or finalized, and a mere two pages of it were cited in their argument,' the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP partner adds, also pointing the finger at Baldoni's side for 'immediately' leaking 'details from the deposition to the tabloid media.' Hudson adds: 'The letter and attachment should be seen for what they are: a manufactured excuse to force the transcript into the public domain as fodder for the Wayfarer Defendants' media campaign.' In an August 1 letter from Baldoni's side, which was filed the same day the depo transcript was under temporary seal, attorney Kevin Fritz certainly teases out what was said the day before. 'Upon questioning by Freedman at her recent deposition, Lively admitted that the only ongoing 'smear campaign' about which she has personal knowledge involves (redacted).' Among the details that were dribbled out of the meeting at Lively's lawyers' Manhattan offices last Thursday was what Lively was wearing, what time the deposition started (10:13 am ET) how husband Ryan Reynolds was there with her, what her side did and said, and that Baldoni himself was in the room. 'Consistent with their goal of creating a media circus around Ms. Lively's deposition, it also appears that the Wayfarer Defendants immediately leaked details from the deposition to the tabloid media,' Hudson's letter notes to Judge Liman, who has been short tempered about such actions in the past. Now, whether or not those leaks came from Team Baldoni or not, the fact is such info did quickly end up in the likes of the Daily Mail and TMZ, which have had a lot of Team Baldoni scoops over the past year. 'The narrative created was that Ms. Lively needed a large contingent of people with her to testify, while misleadingly suggesting that only Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Freedman were present for the deposition on their side,' today's three-page letter said. 'The reality is that Ms. Lively testified across the table from Mr. Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel, all of whom attended this deposition in person, as well as eight attorneys representing the Wayfarer and Wallace Parties, two of whom questioned her.' ADVERTISEMENT With Baldoni's $400 million countersuit tossed out in June and Deadpool star Reynolds, the New York Times and others dropped from the matter altogether, Lively's trial against Baldoni is set to start on March 9, 2026. At the same time, a sideshow of sorts is playing out in federal and California state court with the billionaire Sarowitz-backed-Baldoni battling insurance companies over covering his legal fees. And let's be honest, from the get-go, this whole case has been a media feeding feast with highs and lows, literally and figuratively. Also, truth be told, very soon after Lively filed her initial complaint with California's Civil Rights department last December, and saw it covered exclusively by the NYT, the actress accused Baldoni's legal team of playing to the media as much as the court docket in the clash between the duo and their inner circles. Both in and out of court, the often hard-nosed and media savvy (Hello Megyn Kelly) Freedman has become the magnet for most of this criticism with some bold moves and some ham-handed tactics (the Madison Square Garden crack as exhibit #1) Monday Lively's team had no comment on her lawyer's letter to Judge Liman, and reps for Baldoni could not be reached for comment. A rare case of duel silence in this high volume and high profile case. ADVERTISEMENT Later in the day, not for the first time and clearly for public consumption, Lively's lawyers filed a motion for sanctions against Freedman, claiming the successful LA-based attorney has frequently let loose with 'biased and inflammatory pre-trial indictments of Ms. Lively's character, credibility, and reputation' and 'publicly slandering' the actress, as they said in a slightly redacted memorandum of law accompanying the motion. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The Hill
19 hours ago
- The Hill
‘We are at war': Redistricting fights explode across US
THE REDISTRICTING arms race is on. Texas Democrats fled the state over the weekend to delay a vote on the state GOP's redrawn maps, which are meant to give Republicans an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. The Lone Star State has become ground zero in the redistricting wars, but Democratic lawmakers from California to New York are promising to retaliate with their own gerrymanders, firing the starting pistol on a race that could determine which party controls Congress for the remainder of President Trump 's second term. In Texas, the legal threats are flying, as state Republicans prepare to vote on a redrawn map that could help them win an additional five House seats in next year's elections. Texas Democratic lawmakers fled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts — all states run by Democratic governors — as they seek to deprive the Texas legislature of the quorum needed to vote on the new maps before the end of the 30-day special session. The Texas legislature is scheduled to reconvene Monday at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET), but they will be short of a quorum by more than 50 Democrats. Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) says he'll attempt to have the missing Democrats removed from office, citing a legal opinion by his Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who is running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. 'This truancy ends now,' Abbott declared in a letter to the Democrats. Abbott and Paxton are also threatening the missing lawmakers with felony charges if they raise money to cover the $500 daily fines they'll incur for missing the special legislative session. 'Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,' Paxton posted on X. 'We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.' Texas Democrats are digging in. 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DEMS SEARCH FOR EMERGENCY MEASURES Democratic leaders are promising to redraw their own maps, although their hands are tied in some cases. The Hill's Jared Gans reports that Democrats are hamstrung by their own recent push to use independent redistricting commissions, taking the issue out of the hands of state lawmakers. 'The movement to set up nonpartisan commissions for redistricting caught steam over the last decade, with Democrats at the forefront of the movement. Many in the party argued the commissions were essential to ensuring fair elections at a time when gerrymandering has led to fewer and fewer competitive contests on the federal level.' New York uses an independent commission to draw its maps. If Hochul hopes to amend the state constitution to change that, it would have to be passed in two consecutive sessions, which would miss the 2026 election cycle. 'We're going to also look at litigation strategies,' Hochul said. 'We're in close conversations about options there, and so I would say this — we're considering all options right now.' California also uses an independent commission, although Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says he's looking for a workaround that could bring a new map straight to voters to approve in a special election. (Newsom is scheduled to speak at 4 p.m. EDT. Watch live here.) Other states are joining the redistricting frenzy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is considering a mid-decade redistricting push. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told CNN his state must act to blunt the impact of Texas's redrawn maps. 'We need to win in the midterm…if they're doing something to add their congressional seats, we need to look at our ways of doing that,' Booker said. Redistricting typically happens at the end of the decade along with the new census report. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said he plans to introduce legislation that would ban all mid-decade redistricting efforts nationwide and nullify any new maps approved before the 2030 census. 'Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution,' Kiley said. 'This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.' MEANWHILE… The 2026 midterm elections are taking shape, with Republicans taking on historical headwinds as they seek to hold on to their majorities in the House and Senate. There are interesting intra-party debates on the left and right amid the broader political realignment that's defined Trump's nonconsecutive terms in office. A new Associated Press-NORC survey found that many Democrats see their party as 'weak' and 'ineffective.' Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) described her party's struggles, as polls show the Democratic brand has never been more unpopular. 'I think voters feel like Democrats have sort of been a‑‑holes to them,' McBride told Politico. Republicans are also dealing with internal divisions over everything from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation to U.S. support for Israel. 'I don't know if the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I'm kind of not relating to Republican Party as much anymore,' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told the Daily Mail. 'I don't know which one it is.' 'I think the Republican Party has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans,' said Greene, who has emerged as one of the few voices on the right calling for the U.S. to cut Israel loose over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 💡 Perspectives: • American Greatness: Trump's unknown frontiers. • New Republic: The media's urge to be 'fair' to Trump is killing the republic. • USA Today: Democrats have devolved into a clown show. • The Liberal Patriot: How to rebuild the Democratic coalition. • Politico: Dems are hoping for a blue wave that might not happen. • 5 things to know on Texas's political showdown. • Musk donates $5M to Trump super PAC. • Nancy Mace launches South Carolina governor bid. • Ex-football coach Derek Dooley challenges Jon Ossoff in Georgia. • Redistricting battle heats up amid Texas showdown CATCH UP QUICK President Trump weighed in on the controversial ad campaign with actor Sydney Sweeney for American Eagle, arguing the success of it is a sign that being 'woke is for losers.' Shares of American Eagle rose sharply on Monday. U.S. n uclear submarines 'are in the region' near Russia following 'highly provocative statements' from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, according to President Trump. Thousands of workers at three Boeing manufacturing plants went on strike overnight less than a year after the company boosted wages to end a separate, 53-day strike by 33,000 aircraft workers. Migrants from some countries would be required to post a bond as high as $15,000 to secure a visa for business or personal travel in a new pilot program being launched by the State Department. NEWS THIS AFTERNOON Trump to name new BLS chief, Fed governor President Trump says he plans to announce a new commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) this week after he fired the previous BLS head following a weak jobs report. Trump told reporters he'd announce the new BLS chief 'over the next three, four days.' The president will also be announcing a nominee to replace Federal Reserve board of governors member Adriana Kugler, who announced Friday she will resign on Aug. 8. Trump's firing of Erika McEntarfer on Friday after the dismal jobs report rocked Washington. McEntarfer was appointed by former President Biden and she was confirmed with a strong bipartisan majority in the Senate in 2024. Democrats are accusing Trump of shooting the messenger and refusing to acknowledge the impact his tariffs are having on the economy. They say Trump is politicizing government data and that they won't be able to trust future reports from his hand-picked BLS nominee. Over the weekend, Trump and his senior officials hit the airwaves to defend the firing, with the president arguing McEntarfer 'had the biggest miscalculation in over 50 years' after significant downward revisions to previous jobs reports. Trump also baselessly claimed that McEntarfer rigged data ahead of the election to make the jobs numbers look better while Biden was in office. 'I then won the Election, anyway, and she readjusted the numbers downward, calling it a mistake, of almost one million jobs,' Trump posted on social media. 'A SCAM!' Revisions to jobs reports are common, although Friday's downward revisions were startling for their severity, leading to a stock market sell-off and fresh concerns about an economic downturn. 'The data always suffers big revisions when the economy is at an inflection point, like a recession,' Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi posted on X. 'It's thus not at all surprising that we are seeing big downward revisions to the payroll employment numbers.' GOP strategist Karl Rove warned Trump is making the same mistake as Biden on the economy. 'What's ironic is, is that the Trump administration is making the same mistake that the Biden administration made, which was to basically, remember we had Bidenomics is working, well, now we have the golden age of American prosperity is returned, and Americans are not feeling that,' Rove said on Fox News. 'Better to say we're working hard to put America on the right road, rather than declaring premature victory. And I think that's a big mistake for the White House and is likely to come back and bite them in the midterm election.' The stock indices bounced back Monday. MEANWHILE … Trump on Monday opened new frontiers in his trade war. The president announced that he'd raise tariffs further on India for continuing to buy Russian oil. 'They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.' Trump had previously announced a 25 percent tariff on India, which is set to go into effect Thursday, along with the new tariff rates for dozens of countries. Canada faces a 35 percent tariff, although Canadian trade official Dominic LeBlanc expressed optimism about a new trade deal with the U.S. 'We were obviously, obviously disappointed by that [tariff rate] decision,' LeBlanc said. 'We believe there's a great deal of common ground between the United States and Canada in terms of building two strong economies that work well together.' 💡 Perspectives: • The Atlantic: Trump gets rid of those pesky statistics. • Fox News: The Fed's foolish interest rate policy is harming the economy. • The American Prospect: Trump's tariffs are kleptocracy in action. • The Wall Street Journal: The bureau of labor denial. • Dark clouds emerge for Trump on economy. • 5 questions Trump faces after dismal jobs report. IN OTHER NEWS Congress to face fiscal, nominations dramas after recess The Senate finally gaveled out for summer break after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal to confirm a backlog of President Trump 's nominees. Instead, Congress will face dramatic fights over the nominees and the looming fiscal cliff when members return in early September. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) traded offers on moving the nominees over the weekend. Schumer pushed for billions of funding to be restored to various agencies in exchange for allowing a group of noncontroversial nominees to be approved, but Trump refused. The Hill's Al Weaver reports: 'Instead, Senate Republicans are expected to go 'nuclear' on nominees once they reconvene in September by moving to change the rules with 51 votes needed.' There's also the matter of funding the government, which will run out of money on Sept. 30, as none of the funding bills for 2026 have been passed into law. Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) sent a letter to Republican leaders Monday demanding a 'Big Four' leadership meeting this week to begin discussions on funding the government. The letter from the Democratic leaders, sent to Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), says they have 'the responsibility to govern for all Americans and work on a bipartisan basis to avert a painful, unnecessary shutdown at the end of September.' 'Yet it is clear that the Trump Administration and many within your party are preparing to 'go it alone' and continue to legislate on a solely Republican basis,' Schumer and Jeffries wrote. The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports: 'Democrats want a pledge from Republicans that if they agree to pass government funding legislation, they would not work with the Trump administration to pass another rescissions package, such as the measure passed last month that clawed back $9 billion in previously appropriated funding and defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.' 💡 Perspectives: • Foreign Affairs: After Xi. • American Mind: A strategy to beat China in the tech race. • The Hill: If Trump and the GOP keep this up, AOC is going to be president. • The Hill: Trump's numbers are down, but Republicans are far from out.
NBC News
a day ago
- NBC News
How a Christian college ministry glorified a sex offender and enabled him to keep abusing students
U.S. news Daniel Savala urged generations of Chi Alpha members to get naked in his Houston sauna. Why did Assemblies of God pastors keep bringing teenagers to his home? Aug. 4, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT By Mike Hixenbaugh This article is part of 'Pastors and Prey,' a series investigating sex abuse allegations in the Assemblies of God. HOUSTON — Daniel Savala leans back in a cloth armchair, raises his right hand and swears before God that what he's about to say is the truth. Looking into the camera, the Pentecostal missionary speaks in slow, measured sentences, describing how, for decades, he gained the trust of college students who came to his ivy-draped bungalow in search of spiritual guidance. Using scripture, he convinced them they could open up about uncomfortable topics like pornography and masturbation. Then he would strike, touching their penises and pressuring them to touch his, all under the guise of bringing them closer to Jesus. 'I knew that I was wrong,' Savala says in the video, filmed by a lawyer in 2023. 'But I did it anyway.' Religion, he says, was the tool of his deception. 'People can just see that spiritual part of your life without seeing the whole of who you are.' And the person he truly was? 'Manipulative,' he says matter-of-factly. 'Cunning.' 'Sinister.' In the two years since Savala recorded that confession at his home in Houston, lawyers, activists and whistleblowers have worked to untangle how a convicted sex offender with an eighth-grade education managed to convince scores of pastors and young Christians to put their faith in him — and why church officials repeatedly failed to stop him. For more on this story, watch "NBC News Daily" at noon ET and "Hallie Jackson NOW" at 5 p.m. ET on NBC News Now. In police reports, lawsuits, online forums and interviews with NBC News, dozens of boys and young men have described how Savala spun his own twisted version of the gospel. He taught them that seeing each other naked in his backyard sauna was essential to becoming true brothers in Christ — or, as he put it, 'nudity is unity.' For those struggling with lustful temptation, he offered a counterintuitive solution: group masturbation, sometimes while listening to Christian worship music. He pushed some of his disciples further; in lawsuits, signed statements and criminal filings, at least 10 have accused him of sexually abusing them. 'He would say things like, 'Hey, you know it's OK to masturbate,'' said Joseph Cleveland, who says Savala groomed and sexually abused him for a decade beginning in 2004, when he was 15. ''Because we're brothers, we can do it together.'' The pastors who shepherded hundreds of high school and college students to Savala's home were part of Chi Alpha, a Christian ministry that evangelizes on university campuses. Students seek out Chi Alpha to connect with God and each other, through small Bible studies and rollicking worship services — and, for more than 30 years, through Savala. Generations of Chi Alpha leaders hailed him as a spiritual savant who could answer life's deepest mysteries. The boys and young men who devoted themselves to Savala called him 'Papa Daniel,' 'God's vagabond' and 'the holiest man alive.' At his direction, teams of students built the backyard sauna that became the site of his alleged crimes. So wrapped up in his teachings, his followers often didn't see themselves as victims until years or decades later. At least one of the college students Savala sexually exploited later became a pastor and brought his own boys to learn from his master inside his darkened sauna. The reward for that minister's devotion: Like Savala, he now faces the possibility of life in prison. Savala's ministry collapsed in early 2023 when several men came forward, some anonymously, to accuse him and some of his protégés of sexual abuse and exploitation, triggering a wave of criminal charges, lawsuits and pastor dismissals. Savala was arrested, and at least six Chi Alpha pastors, leaders and students who studied under him were charged with sexual abuse. The revelations rocked Chi Alpha and the Pentecostal denomination that runs it, the Assemblies of God, which has nearly 3 million members at 13,000 churches across the U.S. As Savala, 69, awaits trial in Waco, Texas, Assemblies of God leaders have sought to distance themselves from the lay minister, repeatedly asserting that Savala was not employed by Chi Alpha and has never been credentialed to preach in the denomination. But an NBC News investigation, based on interviews and a review of emails, court records, photographs and social media posts, shows that Savala was deeply entrenched in Chi Alpha, with some leaders crediting him for the ministry's rapid growth in recent decades. The reporting reveals that Assemblies of God leaders — all the way up to the denomination's national superintendent — were warned repeatedly about Savala's troubling history but did not cut off his influence. These failures allowed more children and young men to be abused, the reporting shows. It wasn't the first time officials with the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination, have been accused of mishandling sex abuse allegations. In May, an NBC News investigation revealed how church leaders dismissed repeated abuse allegations against a charismatic children's pastor named Joe Campbell in the 1980s, allowing him to remain in ministry for years as more alleged victims came forward. Do you have a story to share about the Assemblies of God's handling of sex abuse allegations? Email reporter Mike Hixenbaugh. Chi Alpha had a clear opportunity to break ties with Savala in 2012, when authorities in Alaska charged him with sexually abusing boys as a youth minister in the 1990s. Instead, ministry leaders in Texas rallied to his defense, sending a staff member to Alaska to pay his bail and — after Savala pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor — organizing a letter-writing campaign to ask the judge for leniency. After a stint in jail, Savala went right back to hosting Chi Alpha students at his home in Houston. In the decade that followed, at least half a dozen people contacted Assemblies of God officials in Texas and at the denomination's national headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, alerting them that Chi Alpha was exposing students to a sex offender. These whistleblowers wrote emails, made phone calls and spoke up at internal meetings. Again and again, they were dismissed or ignored, NBC News found. 'Hiddenness is the ally of abuse,' said Anthony Scoma, a pastor who resigned an Assemblies of God leadership position in Texas after he said senior denomination officials failed to act on his warnings about Savala in 2023. 'The Bible talks about shining light into dark places. But leadership in the Assemblies of God says, 'Oh, don't shine light into our dark places.'' Rather than reckon with how church leaders welcomed a sex offender into the fold, Savala's accusers say the Assemblies of God has taken a defensive stance, refusing to release an internal investigation and relying on nondisclosure agreements to keep the story from spreading. Critics, including several current and former Assemblies of God pastors, say this response exposes a church leadership culture that's more concerned with avoiding legal liability than protecting the vulnerable. They're calling on the Assemblies of God to commission an independent review of its handling of sex abuse allegations nationwide to ensure nothing like this happens again. 'Pastors and Prey': NBC News investigates sex abuse in Assemblies of God churches Assemblies of God church leaders allowed a children's pastor to continue preaching for years after he was accused of sexually abusing girls. An NBC News documentary traces the 40-year fight to stop a preacher accused of raping children. In a statement to NBC News, the Assemblies of God said it directed Chi Alpha leaders to stay away from Savala after receiving a report about him in 2018. Five years later, after receiving 'reports of sexual abuse,' the denomination said it 'took appropriate actions,' leading to the dismissal of more than a half dozen ministers with ties to Savala. 'We have been heartbroken to hear allegations related to Daniel Savala and the pain his reported actions caused,' the statement said. 'The Assemblies of God stands in strong opposition to the teachings and practices he followed.' Denomination leaders declined interview requests and did not answer detailed questions. Savala has not entered a plea on his charges in Texas, and he and his lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. But in April 2023, as the accusations mounted, he recorded the confession in his living room; it's unclear what led him to do so. The grainy homemade video later circulated among Savala's accusers and was shared with NBC News. Contemplating how he managed to conceal his misdeeds for so long, Savala's eyes shift momentarily, then his gaze returns to the camera. 'I had them all very well under my spell.' Joseph Cleveland was struggling with his parents' separation in 2004 when his youth pastor brought him to someone he said could help. The walls of Daniel Savala's home were lined with pictures from around the world and books on Christian theology. Sitting in his bedroom, Savala listened intently for two hours as Cleveland told him about his turbulent home life and kids at school who bullied him over his faith. Cleveland couldn't believe a revered, world-traveling missionary was taking an interest in him, a 15-year-old. As he and his youth pastor headed for the door, Cleveland says Savala pulled him aside with a final word of encouragement: 'You know, if you ever want to come back here just by yourself, you're more than welcome.' Cleveland's mother was elated. 'This is the Lord,' she told her son. 'The Lord gave you a father figure.' An evangelical hippie with a mop of wavy black hair, Savala had preached across Europe, Africa, Asia and the U.S. before settling in Houston in the 1990s to care for his parents. About an hour north was Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, home to a fledgling Chi Alpha chapter. Savala, having worked with a Chi Alpha group in Louisiana, set his sights on Sam Houston as his new mission field. Chi Alpha, or XA, is the Greek abbreviation for christou apostoloi, or 'Christ's ambassador.' With 268 chapters across the U.S., the coed ministry combines the emotional intensity of an Assemblies of God church service — clapping, jumping, speaking in tongues — with the closeness of a fraternity or sorority. Separated by gender into small groups, students find their spiritual brothers and sisters, the friends who will later be groomsmen and bridesmaids at their weddings. Savala quickly dazzled the young pastors in charge of Chi Alpha at Sam Houston, regaling them with stories that sounded ripped out of the New Testament. He was virtually illiterate as a young man — until he picked up a Bible and began to read. He once prayed over a disabled man in Malta, then watched the man's clubbed foot grow to full strength before his eyes. After meeting him, one senior Chi Alpha pastor described Savala as 'magnetic,' an 'absolute enigma' and 'the wisest man I'd ever met in all of my life.' With that endorsement, Savala became the ministry's unofficial figurehead at Sam Houston. He taught his new followers never to question their spiritual leaders, and under his influence Chi Alpha pushed students who had planned to become teachers or police officers to instead go into ministry. Huntsville became a training ground for new Assemblies of God pastors and missionaries, and as those young ministers fanned out across Texas and the nation, many brought Savala's teachings with them. They called his home the Lion's Den; traveling to it was a rite of passage for the men of Chi Alpha and the younger teens from local church groups they sometimes brought with them. Pastors who sent students for spiritual guidance encouraged them to perform free work or discreetly leave cash inside one of the books on Savala's shelves. Chi Alpha volunteers had not yet built the small wooden sauna in Savala's backyard when Cleveland, then 16, began driving 45 minutes to see him every other weekend in 2005. Instead, Savala took him to a sauna at the YMCA, where they got naked and discussed Scripture. The first time the conversation turned to sex, Savala spoke in the tone of a father counseling a teen struggling with lust and pornography, Cleveland said. In an evangelical culture that encouraged young people to remain pure even in their thoughts, Savala's openness felt like a revelation. The conversations quickly turned more explicit, with Savala commenting on Cleveland's penis and asking the teen what he thought of his: 'You know, you could touch it if you ever wanted to,' Cleveland remembers him saying. Back at his home, Savala insisted he give it a try. Cleveland says he didn't recognize what Savala did to him over the next decade as sexual abuse. Performing oral sex on an older man initially seemed wrong, but Savala was a brilliant theologian and prophet; this must have been part of what made him holy. He was dispensing secret wisdom, with an emphasis on secret. Savala told him no one else would understand, Cleveland said. After high school, Cleveland enrolled in community college and joined Chi Alpha at Sam Houston State. He became a small group leader and later took a job on the staff. Before long, he, too, was leading cars full of young men to Houston to learn from his mentor. In the summer of 2012, Eli Stewart, one of the top Chi Alpha pastors at Sam Houston State, wrote an urgent plea to ministry leaders and alumni: 'Our dear friend Daniel needs you.' Savala had recently been indicted in Alaska after he was accused of sexually abusing several boys at a church in the 1990s. Two of the boys, now men, had filed police reports, and Savala traveled there to face charges. Chi Alpha leaders had already dispatched a junior staff member to Alaska to pay Savala's $10,000 bail and hired a lawyer to defend him. Now Stewart was calling for collective action. Describing the allegations as 'an absolute attack of the devil,' Stewart wrote that Savala was preparing to take a plea deal — not to reduce his sentence, but to protect the families of the men falsely accusing him. He called on his Chi Alpha brothers to write letters to the judge: 'If you have children and would be comfortable having Daniel stay in your home or having your children at Daniel's house, the judge needs to know that.' At a Chi Alpha staff meeting later that year, Stewart insisted that Savala, who served 90 days in jail and was now a registered sex offender, was innocent. Stewart said he knew firsthand that the allegations were a lie because he grew up in Alaska and had been a teenager in Savala's youth group when the abuse allegedly took place, said Krystopher Scroggins, a Chi Alpha pastor who attended the meeting. Scroggins, who now leads a Chi Alpha chapter in San Angelo, Texas, said he didn't send small groups to visit Savala after that, but he and others believed Stewart at the time. 'We all bought it, hook, line and sinker,' he said. 'Because you're supposed to be able to trust your pastors.' Stewart didn't respond to messages from NBC News. Savala's victims have come to view his 2012 conviction as a line of demarcation. With his abuses out in the open, it was the moment when ministry leaders should have broken free from Savala's influence, but instead chose the opposite path. Eight months later, in March 2013, Kieran Salgado, a freshman Chi Alpha member at San Antonio State University, was selected for a mission trip to Houston. He and several other students spent a week with Savala to do restoration work on his house. Each night before bed, Salgado — unaware of his host's criminal record — said Savala told the students to undress and join him in his cramped, cedar-planked sauna. Sitting leg-to-leg, they prayed, sang worship songs and spoke in tongues. The nudity was meant to create an atmosphere of intimacy and openness, Salgado believed, ushering them closer to Jesus. The next time Salgado visited Houston, he came alone. And what Savala did in the sauna — forcefully grabbing Salgado's penis while masturbating himself — no longer felt like a spiritual awakening, he said, but a vulgar act of abuse. In the fall of 2013, he built the courage to tell a young Chi Alpha staff member, Todd Jackson, who was training to become a minister. Salgado said Jackson cut him off. 'Instantly he said, 'I don't believe you.''Traumatized, Salgado quit Chi Alpha and transferred to another college. In an interview with NBC News, Jackson confirmed Salgado's account. He attributed his mishandling of the encounter, in part, to the ministry's culture of discouraging young men from questioning spiritual leaders. And in Chi Alpha, there was no leader more revered than Savala. Jackson knew Savala used nudity to push students out of their comfort zones. He figured Salgado had simply misunderstood. 'I defended Daniel to my shame,' Jackson said, 'because I thought I knew Daniel better.' Over the next decade, the pattern repeated again and again. People came to church leaders with concerns about Savala, and those warnings went unheeded. Ron Bloomingkemper Jr. had quit Chi Alpha at Sam Houston State in the late 1990s after he says Savala asked him to masturbate together. He was outraged years later, in 2013, when he learned of Savala's child sex abuse conviction and continued connection to the ministry. Bloomingkemper said he called Tim Barker, a pastor and the superintendent of the Assemblies of God regional council that oversees the denomination in south Texas. Barker seemed concerned, Bloomingkemper said, and he promised to investigate. After a few months, Bloomingkemper called again. 'I said, 'I'm following up about the Daniel thing.' And he goes, 'I completely forgot about that.'' That's when Bloomingkemper said he realized: 'They're not going to do anything about this.' Frustrated, he said he dropped the issue and tried to move on. Barker, who was later accused in a lawsuit of failing to act on warnings about Savala, didn't respond to questions from NBC News. A lawyer representing the Assemblies of God's South Texas district council said in a letter that Barker could not comment due to pending litigation. Although Savala never served on staff with Chi Alpha, the lawyer said that 'we understand the profound seriousness of these accusations and are committed to ensuring that justice is served.' Over the next several years, Chi Alpha saw explosive growth at Sam Houston State and across Texas, catching the attention of state and national Assemblies of God leaders. Chapters led by Eli Stewart and other Savala disciples were churning out dozens of new ministers every year. Those pastors went on to start new Chi Alpha chapters, plant churches and become missionaries, winning new believers — and new revenue — for the denomination. All the while, Chi Alpha groups kept visiting Savala's sauna. In 2016, a former Sam Houston State student filed a Title IX complaint with the university alleging that Savala had been sexually abusing him for about two years, according to a copy of the university's investigative report and a later lawsuit. The university closed the investigation after failing to find evidence that Savala was abusing current Sam Houston State students. But it did recommend that Chi Alpha notify leaders of its small groups about Savala's criminal record, according to the university's report. Nevertheless, the pilgrimages continued. In the fall of 2017, Savala began sexually abusing a blind Sam Houston State student, according to a lawsuit filed last year. Unable to drive himself, the student, identified as John Doe, said he relied on Chi Alpha members to bring him to Houston — where Savala used language from the Bible to pressure him to have oral and anal sex. Afraid of losing the elevated status within Chi Alpha that came with being one of Savala's favorites, the student told no one, his lawyer said. A year later, a former Chi Alpha member named Monica Roeger gave Assemblies of God leaders another opportunity to investigate and intervene. Roeger, who lives in Oregon, knew some of the boys who had accused Savala of abusing them in Alaska and had closely followed the 2012 criminal case. So, she was stunned when, in March 2018, a Chi Alpha missionary from Oregon posted a picture of himself on Facebook with Savala. Roeger did some research and discovered several social media posts that suggested Savala was still closely connected to the college ministry. Over the next year and a half, Roeger sent 11 emails to national Assemblies of God leaders warning of Savala's influence. After one official responded saying he had spoken to Chi Alpha leaders in Texas and found 'no indication of anything but positive interactions' with Savala, Roeger elevated the matter to Doug Clay, the denomination's general superintendent, or top national leader. Clay never responded directly, the emails show, but in June 2018, Donna L. Barrett, the denomination's general secretary, wrote to Roeger on Clay's behalf. Barrett said that Savala wasn't a credentialed Assemblies of God minister and that the national office didn't have authority to intervene in local church matters. She copied the leaders of the denomination's district offices in north and south Texas and assured Roeger they would address her concerns. Clay and Barrett didn't respond to messages from NBC News. In a statement, the Assemblies of God said that, after receiving a report about Savala in 2018, it warned Chi Alpha leaders 'to cease contact and not permit students or leaders to be around him.' But his connection to the ministry continued. Roeger sent a final message to Clay in December 2019, after finding a photo online that appeared to show Savala at a recent Chi Alpha leadership event in Colorado. 'Let it be noted,' she wrote, 'that the national offices of the Assemblies of God and Chi Alpha have been notified of the continued presence of a convicted sexual predator in their leadership events.' She received no response. Nobody warned Stephen and Jessica Holt when the man their pastor called Papa Daniel took a personal interest in their 13-year-old son in 2021. Quite the opposite, the leaders of Mountain Valley Fellowship Church told them that Savala was a prophet and that they should be honored. Savala protégé Eli Stewart had started the Assemblies of God-affiliated church a few years earlier after leaving Sam Houston State to launch a Chi Alpha chapter at Texas A&M University in College Station. Congregants referred to Savala as 'father to none, father to all' because of his role as a church patriarch despite having no children of his own. Unaware of Savala's criminal record, the Holts allowed a Chi Alpha staff member to bring their son to Savala's house for mentorship in the fall of 2021. Two years passed before their son broke down in tears and revealed what happened at Savala's sauna. The fear he felt getting undressed in front of grown men. The way Savala looked at his naked body. The invitation to touch him. This wasn't the only betrayal. Four Chi Alpha members, young men who had taken an interest in mentoring the Holts' son, had also sexually exploited the boy, the Holts said, exposing their genitals and pressuring him to do the same. (Savala and the four others were later charged with indecency with a child; all but Savala have pleaded not guilty). The Holts were furious when they learned that Assemblies of God officials had been warned repeatedly. They sued for negligence and settled in June for an undisclosed sum. 'People were hurt because they just didn't care,' Stephen Holt said. In 2021, nine years after Savala's conviction in Alaska, the youngest of his alleged Texas victims began visiting his sauna. The two boys were bought there by a Chi Alpha pastor they trusted implicitly: their own father. The allegations would later be spelled out in arrest warrants. Christopher Hundl, a Chi Alpha pastor at Baylor University in Waco, told police that Savala became his spiritual mentor back when he was a college student. They masturbated each other because Savala 'described this as a spiritual activity,' the warrants said. After Hundl became a pastor and a father, he began taking his own boys — ages 11 and 12 — to learn the ways of his mentor. They thought of him as their spiritual grandfather. Hundl, so invested in Savala's teachings that he set up a sauna at his home, later confessed to police. He declined an NBC News interview request. His boys told an officer that their dad instructed them to strip and masturbate in front of Savala on multiple occasions. And with their father present, they said, Savala touched their genitals and told them to never tell anyone. Both men, mentor and protégé, were indicted on trafficking charges and now face up to life in prison without parole if convicted. The secrets began spilling out in April 2023 when Bloomingkemper, Roeger and other whistleblowers launched a website and forum dedicated to exposing spiritual and sexual abuse in Chi Alpha. The site, ' XA and the Lion's Den,' became a public repository for allegations. The Texas A&M student newspaper, The Battalion, broke the story of Savala's abuses and his enablers, followed by articles in the Christian press. A decade after insisting Savala was innocent of abuse in Alaska, Eli Stewart told his Texas congregation that 'a major influence' in his life had 'turned out to be a master manipulator.' After launching an investigation, the Assemblies of God revoked Stewart's credentials and dismissed several other Chi Alpha ministers, including Jackson, who had disbelieved Salgado. Baylor and Texas A&M suspended the ministry from their campuses. As the fallout radiated through the ranks of former Chi Alphas, some who had placed their faith in Savala began to question everything he had taught them. A cascade of lawsuits and criminal charges followed. Joseph Cleveland, now 36, was among those who started seeing their sexual encounters with Savala differently, he said. He met with a friend who recounted being manipulated and abused by Savala — each turn of his story echoing Cleveland's own memories. The full weight of the conversation hit afterward, while he was driving home. He thought of his baby boy, then felt God asking him, 'Hey, what if somebody from the church wanted to do this with your son?' Overwhelmed, Cleveland pulled over and sobbed. It was the first time he saw himself as a survivor of child sex abuse. He told a Chi Alpha pastor, who filed a police report in Houston. Savala was charged with sexual assault of a child; the case is pending. In the years since, like many of his Chi Alpha brothers, Cleveland has grappled with his role in perpetuating a system that also victimized him. Although he never saw or took part in the abuse of others, Cleveland said, he heard from men in his former small group who say Savala abused them. 'I didn't take them down there with the thought of them getting abused,' Cleveland said. 'But at the end of the day, that's on me. I'm the one that drove them there, and I have to live with that.' Now Cleveland and other accusers say they want Assemblies of God leaders to take responsibility. Scoma, the Assemblies of God pastor who resigned his leadership post in protest, said the Chi Alpha disaster has created an opportunity for the denomination to look inward and root out the indifference that he says allowed Savala to abuse for decades. Instead, Scoma said, the Assemblies of God has acted more like a corporation trying to appease shareholders and limit fallout. As a Pentecostal movement, the denomination teaches that God speaks through modern spiritual leaders to call out hypocrisy and injustice, much like the prophets of the Old Testament. 'My prophetic word to the church,' Scoma said, 'is that we listen to lawyers more than we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.' To regain trust, he and others say the Assemblies of God must give a full accounting of how national leaders responded to warnings about Savala and how far his depraved teachings spread. And they say the church needs to learn from its mistakes. That's why Stephen and Jessica Holt are speaking out. Silence, they say, is what allowed Savala to remain in ministry long enough to abuse their son. The ordeal shook their faith in the church, but they still believe God can use tragedy to make something beautiful — if Assemblies of God leaders are willing to listen. 'Every victim deserves justice,' Jessica Holt said. 'And every victim deserves to share their story when they're ready.' Mike Hixenbaugh Mike Hixenbaugh is a senior investigative reporter for NBC News, based in Maryland, and author of "They Came for the Schools."
