Truth-or-dare sex criminal moved to Gloriavale

| The Press | Blair Ensor and Laura Walters |

A convicted child sex offender who sexually abused a drunk 15-yearold boy during games of truth or dare has moved to Gloriavale and assumed a new identity.

Brent John Carpenter, who has legally changed his name to Courageous Sojourner, has lived at the controversial closed Christian community since at least 2015. Before arriving at Gloriavale, the 47-year-old was sentenced to two years and five months in jail after pleading guilty to three charges of un-lawful sexual connection with the teenage boy. Carpenter was freed in May 2014 and he is no longer subject to monitoring.

Police became aware of his move to Gloriavale after a routine traffic stop on the West Coast.

It is understood the discovery rang alarm bells and a detective was sent to the community to check Carpenter wasn’t putting himself in a position to reoffend. Gloriavale leaders told the officer they disapproved of his criminal history and assured them they would keep a close eye on him.

While police say officers make regular visits to the community in order to identify risks of this nature, Gloriavale’s policy is to try to deal with alleged instances of sexual abuse within the community before involving the authorities.

It is unclear why Carpenter moved to Gloriavale. He has not returned calls from The Press.

According to court documents, Carpenter befriended the 15-yearold boy in Levin in 2010.

A relationship developed – Carpenter would buy the boy food and give him money – and on three occasions the boy visited his house. ‘‘You [Carpenter]gave him [the boy] alcohol and you asked him to play a game of truth and dare involving you daring him to lie naked on your bed and on each of those three separate occasions you performed oral sex on him,’’ the judge said in sentencing notes. Carpenter had previous convictions, but not of a sexual nature, the notes said.

Carpenter is not the only convicted sex offender living in the closed community. Gloriavale founder Neville Cooper, who goes by the name Hopeful Christian, was convicted of sex abuse charges in 1995. He was sentenced to five years in prison for three counts of indecently assault at the Springbank Christian Community in Cust, North Canterbury, where the community was based at the time.

West Coast area commander Inspector Mel Aitken would not answer questions about Carpenter, saying police were unable to discuss the specifics of any individual or case concerned. Any criminal offences identified were dealt with by police in the same way they were in any other community.

However, a Charities Services investigation revealed that Gloriavale trustees are encouraged to deal with allegations of sexual assault within the com-munity rather than involve the authorities. The Charities Services report contains policy written by Gloriavale, which outlines the correct procedure to follow in the instance of sexual abuse allegations.

They include gathering information from the alleged offender and victim, and any witnesses. If it is determined a sexual assault did take place, then the trust should gather the parties involved and ‘‘stress the seriousness of disobeying the commandments of the Bible and teachings of the church against such sin’’. The trust should also stress the seriousness of breaking the law. The report goes on to recommend the offender be required to leave the community, and confess to police, if they continued to offend.

If the person came to ‘‘true repentance’’ then they could ask to return to the community.

Gloriavale senior member Fervent Stedfast declined to comment about Carpenter and measures that were in place to ensure he did not reoffend.