DECATUR, Ga., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A Georgia church has acknowledged Bishop Eddie Long shared hotel rooms with four young men but says it does not know what went on behind closed doors.
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and the LongFellows Youth Academy, its mentoring program for teenage boys, have filed responses to lawsuits in which the men say Long coerced them into sex, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday. Long, who denies any misconduct, filed his responses last week.
The church in Lithonia said the plaintiffs all joined Long for trips, some of them out of the country. For example, Anthony Flagg, one of the four, went with the pastor to New York and Las Vegas as well as Tuskegee, Ala.
The young men say Long used his influence as a pastor, as well as more earthly rewards such as jobs and presents, to get them to have sex with him.
