A Christian Camp Director Abused Dozens of Kids. Now, a Victim Says the Camp Lied to Coerce Him Into an NDA.

Kanakuk wasn’t an obvious fit for his personality. A quiet, shy kid, he wasn’t particularly athletic and much preferred to play music. But he saw the camp as an extension of his church, which was important to him and his family. Kanakuk touts itself as a summer wonderland set against the backdrop of Christian teachings, and nearly half a million campers have passed through its gates since it was founded in 1926. Parents pay thousands of dollars a week for their kids to mix faith with outdoor adventures like canoeing, water slides, ziplines, archery, and more.

When Yandell arrived on the camp’s sprawling campus, he met Pete Newman almost immediately. A former counselor turned director, Newman was Kanakuk’s star, and seen as the disciple of Joe White, Kanakuk’s CEO and a high profile Evangelical speaker. 

“I wanted to be like Pete when I grew up,” Yandell, now 27, told VICE News. “Pete was adored by so many people and families and respected from the camp; they elevated him so much. He was the camp’s poster-child.”

What happened next was devastating: Yandell would become one of dozens of boys victimized by Newman, who was ultimately convicted of child sexual abuse. Camp leaders were adamant they had no idea Newman posed a risk to kids. But years later, his victims and their families have accused the camp, according to previous court documents and a new lawsuit, of putting children in danger by ignoring repeated warnings about his inappropriate behavior. And a new lawsuit from one victim accuses the camp of covering up negligence by coercing victims into signing fraudulent non-disclosure agreements.

That first summer, Yandell didn’t know what lay ahead. He enjoyed his time at camp, and joined Newman’s Bible study group, which continued via long distance correspondence long after the summer ended. When Yandell returned the following year, Newman kept up their close relationship, singling him out from other campers so they could spend time one on one.

At first, the treatment was an honor. “Being close with Pete was seen as, ‘There’s something special about your kid when your kid is close to Pete,’” Yandell recalled.

Later that year, Yandell says Newman started to sexually abuse him. It began that fall on a trip to Newman’s home, just down the road from Kanakuk—a visit Yandell remembers as “kind of a birthday gift” as he’d just turned 9.

“Pete really treated it as a game,” he said, adding that Newman told him they could avoid the sin of lusting after women by masturbating with each other. “He would use scripture to his advantage and make it like we were doing something that was keeping us from sinning. At the time, I guess it made sense to me because of the indoctrination.”

Yandell didn’t tell anyone about the abuse for years.

He says he didn’t really understand what was happening to him. Newman was a revered leader at the camp and worked so closely with White, who had become a friend of Yandell’s  family, that Yandell trusted him.

The abuse continued for 4 years, Yandell said, escalating until Newman raped him multiple times in 2008 when he was 13 years old.

After these assaults, he distanced himself from Newman and said he didn’t want to spend time with him anymore – though he still didn’t tell his family why. “I was confident that I was uncomfortable and that what was happening to me was not normal and that I was not ok with it,” Yandell said. “My parents were confused. They were like, ‘We thought you loved Pete.’”

He didn’t tell anyone what had happened until 2009, when news eventually broke that Newman was accused of abusing dozens of other children. Yandell finally shared with his family that he, too, had been a victim.

Newman was ultimately arrested, charged with and convicted of multiple counts of child sexual abuse; one judge determined his victims numbered “at least 57.” He is currently serving back to back life sentences in a Missouri state prison.

The camp claimed to have been blindsided, issuing a statement that they were “deeply saddened and shocked” by the news. For years, Kanakuk maintained that leadership had no prior knowledge that Newman was a danger to kids. 

But over time, victims would come to believe that wasn’t exactly the case.

In the immediate aftermath of Newman’s arrest, Yandell’s father, Greg, said he confronted White: “I asked Joe point blank, ‘Did you ever see anything that concerned you about Pete Newman, or was Pete ever in a situation that was inappropriate with kids?’ Point blank, ‘No, Greg, we never saw anything that would cause any kind of concern and this comes as just a big of a surprise to us as it does to you.’”

The family ended up signing a settlement agreement with the camp in 2010, just a year after Yandell came forward, which, according to the lawsuit, includes non-disclosure language that restricts them from talking about how much they were paid.

“It was pretty clear that Joe wanted us to settle quickly,” Greg Yandell said. “When I read the language of the non-disclosure agreement, my mindset was, ‘This won’t matter anyway because they never saw anything with Pete, so there’s no reason to worry about having a non-disclosure agreement.’ That entire process was completely predicated on me accepting truth from Joe White.”

“I completely trusted Joe,” Greg Yandell told VICE News after the lawsuit was filed. “It just didn’t cross my mind at all that Joe could have been lying to me, or covered things up for years and years.”

In an affidavit to the lawsuit, he said the same thing. “We discovered that Kanakuk and White’s representations regarding prior knowledge of Newman’s sexual misconduct were false,” Greg Yandell stated. “We would not have agreed to the settlement agreement on behalf of our son but for the false and material misrepresentations made by Kanakuk and White regarding its knowledge of Newman’s sexual misconduct with young boys.”

Victims accused Kanakuk of knowing that Newman was a danger and putting them at risk, and silencing them with non-disclosure agreements after their abuse. An unknown number of victims signed settlements with the camp, some of which contain non-disparagement or non-disclosure clauses. While Kanakuk claims to “absolutely support the right of victims to share their story in pursuit of their healing,” victims have told VICE News they were afraid if they spoke publicly, they would be accused of disparaging camp and face legal action, like what happened to the Alarcons, a family whose son was abused at camp.

The Alarcons refused to sign non-disparagement or confidentiality clauses in their settlement, and were later pursued by Kanakuk for violating the terms of their agreement—leading to legal proceedings they say cost them $40,000, VICE News reported last year. 

Over the past two years, this growing tide of victims and their families have demanded that Kanakuk release all parties from any non-disclosure agreements and allow them to speak publicly without fear of retribution.

In a statement on its website, the camp has acknowledged this movement: “We realize that the complex language of settlement agreements may have silenced some victims. We also realize that we have added confusion and frustration when we have spoken on this topic. We were wrong in our understanding of the language of many of these agreements, and we failed to recognize the restrictions – both real and perceived – that many victims are under.”

But now, Yandell is going a step further.

In a lawsuit filed last month in Missouri against Joe White, Kanakuk’s parent companies Kanakuk Heritage and Kanakuk Ministries, as well as the camp’s insurance provider, Yandell alleges his settlement agreement was fraudulent, as he never would have signed if White and Kanakuk leadership had told him and his family the truth about what they knew about Newman.

The suit argues that Kanakuk represented Newman’s abuse as “isolated” and that the “Defendants had no prior knowledge,” when in fact Kanakuk “actively concealed the reports of Newman’s sexual misconduct with minor children” and never took appropriate action.

It includes an affidavit from Will Cunningham, Newman’s direct supervisor from 1997 until 2005, in which he details multiple instances that camp leadership was aware of Newman inappropriately exposing himself to kids while at the camp. In 1999, for example, Newman was documented as having ridden a four-wheeler naked around campers, and in 2003 he swam and played basketball naked with young boys.

Cunningham attests that after these reports in 2003 he recommended Newman be terminated, but Newman was allowed to remain Assistant Director and was later promoted to Director of K-Kountry, Kanakuk’s camp for children ages 6 to 11.

The lawsuit includes several other examples of parents contacting the camp with concerns about Newman, like a mom in 2003 who called to report him for “unusual/sexual behavior” towards her son “after witnessing her son throw away his jeans” and “proclaiming ‘I never want to see Pete again.’” In 2006, another father contacted Kanakuk concerned by Newman’s contact with his son.

Yandell is seeking a jury trial and at least $25,000 in damages.

VICE News has previously reported that multiple parents complained about Newman’s behavior to the camp for years before he was ultimately arrested and charged with abuse, and that Kanakuk was aware of and documented his inappropriate activity, such as the “nightly hot tub ministries” he held with boys in 2006, according to documents obtained from a civil suit against Newman in 2011.

In one instance, a mother who called to report that her daughter had observed Newman touching a young male camper inappropriately told VICE News that a staffer dismissed the complaint, saying her daughter should re-evaluate her relationship with God and that she was not a good fit for Kanakuk.

Camp leadership did not report Newman to authorities, VICE News reported last year, but created what looks like a behavior plan that included spending more time with his wife and not having any more sleepovers with underage boys, according to the civil suit. 

“If Joe had made the correct decision to fire Pete the very first time he abused kids, then my son would have never been abused, ever,” Greg Yandell said. “I want Joe White to admit that he’s lied to victims all these years and he’s lied to families all these years. If I had known all the facts, there is no possible way I would have ever settled with Kanakuk.”

“I’m not trying to destroy Kanakuk’s ministry, I’m just trying to get them to tell the truth,” Greg Yandell added. “Kanakuk continues to lie over and over about what they knew and when they knew.”

Despite the increased spotlight on the history of abuse and use of NDAs at Kanakuk, it remains a sought-after summer experience: The camp says more than 20,000 campers attend every year.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Kanakuk said simply, “Our policy is not to comment on pending litigation. We will respond further if or when appropriate. In the meantime, we continue to pray for all who have been affected by Pete Newman’s behavior.”

Yandell’s could be the first of many such cases against Kanakuk that seek to void NDAs, opening the door for survivors to speak freely. Yandell’s lawyer Brian Kent told VICE News he has been in touch with “scores” of Kanakuk abuse survivors and “the goal is to get justice for as many people as possible.”

For Yandell, who struggled with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and recurrent health issues for years following his abuse, the lawsuit represents a way forward. “I had given up complete hope on getting any justice around this,” he said. “That NDA was very much debilitating for a very long time.”

He said he was inspired to speak out by his fellow victims, such as Trey Carlock, a former camper and Newman victim who died by suicide in 2019, and whose obituary references his abuse at Kanakuk and the years he “fought valiantly against the trauma he suffered.”

“Trey Carlock no longer has his voice to speak out against these things,” Yandell said. “So for me it’s extremely important to use my voice to be able to speak the truth about what they continually cover up, even to this day.”