Former megachurch pastor demands $500,000 from alleged rape victim for causing him 'humiliation and embarrassment'

Former Church of the Highlands pastor Micahn Carter is suing his rape accuser, claiming that his life has been made more difficult since the rape accusations. He's suing the woman he allegedly raped for $500,000, reported AL.com.

Carter disputes the rape allegation and has accused the alleged victim of defamation. The woman who came forward, Mary E. Jones of Spokane, filed court documents on April 29, 2019, saying that he sexually assaulted her at the Together Church in Yakima, Washington. She has also written about the experience in a blog post published in 2021.

After being accused of sexual assault, Carter resigned his position at the Yakima church, admitting to the flock on YouTube that he was involved in "an inappropriate incident." He also claimed he had a "previously undiagnosed mental health disorder."

Now, however, he's claiming that Jones defamed him with her rape accusations and as a result he's lost “publishing contracts and paid speaking engagements," which has cost him "mental anguish" and "humiliation and embarrassment." He has never clarified what the "inappropriate incident" was that he engaged in that led to his resignation from the church. The video only came after the rape allegations and the lawsuit.

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“Accusing somebody of rape is devastating,” AL.com cited Carter’s attorney, William Bright. “It’s hard to calculate all that is involved in that type of accusation and what the damages are to come from it.”

Bright also said that his client has not denied an incident occurred, but he said that it was "consensual" which Jones disputes.

Jones’ attorney, Marc Ayers, said “unfortunately, rather than provide much of a legal response to our motion to dismiss, the plaintiff filed a response that includes false, harmful and quite irrelevant personal attacks on Ms. Jones, further demonstrating the baselessness of the plaintiff’s legal position.”

After the incident, the admission and the resignation, Carter and his family moved across the country to Alabama and a year later began giving sermons at the state's largest evangelical megachurch. Jones then sent a certified letter to the church, telling them about the rape.

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Highlands released a statement about it saying, “In 2019 Micahn Carter’s Pastoral Overseers from Washington state asked Church of the Highlands to assist them in directing a ministerial restoration process for him. Highlands agreed to do so, and since then we have been working with Micahn and his family. Recently, Highlands received correspondence raising new allegations about events that occurred over two years ago in Washington state. When we shared this information with the Carters, they resigned from their positions on staff to work through these issues themselves. Highlands is no longer involved in the restoration process.”

Carter then went to work for Association of Related Churches (ARC) church..

Jones' lawyer said that Alabama has no jurisdiction in this matter as it was previously being handled in Washington state.

Read the full report from AL.com.