COLUMBUS, OH - The Florida pastor who sheltered runaway teen convert Rifqa Bary formally denied Tuesday that he knowingly broke the law to hide the Muslim-turned-Christian girl from Ohio.
Pastor Blake Lorenz of Global Revolution Church in Orlando, in a sworn statement filed with the juvenile court in Franklin County, Ohio, where Rifqa’s family lives, said the allegations made by former church employee Brian Smith are false.
Smith, who had worked as an administrator at Global Revolution, filed a sworn statement last week with an Ohio court that accused Lorenz of refusing to call the Florida Department of Children and Families even though legal experts had informed him to report that Rifqa was living in his home.
In response to the allegation, Lorenz said he called DCF multiple times on July 29th as well as to the Florida children’s services hot line and the Ohio police in August, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Fathima Rifqa Bary, 17, ran away from her home in mid-July saying that she feared her Muslim father would kill her for converting to Christianity.
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