BISHOP DOGGED BY ABUSE ALLEGATIONS DIES

CNN.com

Bishop Earl Paulk, a charismatic preacher brought down by a series of sex scandals, hasdied.  He was 81.  Paulk's success as a preacher was overshadowed time and again byallegations of sexual impropriety.  One allegation ended in a civil suit that was settled outof court in 2003.  The accuser said Paulk molested her when she was a child.  A secondwoman claimed the bishop forced her into a 14-year affair.  She filed, withdrew and refiled asuit.  During a deposition the bishop said under oath the woman was the only one he slept withoutside of marriage.  But a court-ordered paternity test showed that he also fathered a childwith his sister-in-law.  Other allegations, some true, some unfounded, cost the churchmembership, as worshippers dwindled from 10,000 to about 1,000.
(Atlanta, Georgia)