2 lawsuits allege Salvation Army youth pastor sexually abused three children in Chicago suburbs

Three women came forward Wednesday to say they've carried the lasting effects of sexual abuse they endured as children at the hands of a Salvation Army youth pastor for nearly three decades — along with the burden of what they describe as the institution’s failure to protect them.

Attorneys for Kristy Wynveen, Lindsey Gauthier and Anna Kozak announced two lawsuits filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Salvation Army, alleging its leaders knew about the abuse at a west suburban community center in the 1990s but allowed it to continue for years.

The three spoke publicly for the first time about their experiences, saying they hope to hold the national faith-based organization accountable and encourage other survivors to come forward.

“The effect that this has had on me has reached every dark corner of my life, every relationship that I've ever had. Every thought, every action is tainted with the abuse that happened,” Kozak said. “That's a struggle that I have to carry, that Lindsey and Kristy have to carry, and that many other survivors of sexual abuse have to carry.”

Wynveen, Gauthier and Kozak said they were sexually abused by a youth pastor named Brian Davis between 1996 and 2002 at the Salvation Army’s Tri-City Corps Community Center in St. Charles. The women were as young as 11, according to the lawsuits.

Kozak is expected to file a separate complaint, said Mike Grieco, lead attorney representing the women.

The complaints describe a pattern of grooming and sexual abuse and allege that Salvation Army leaders, including a social services director and an officer, knew about Davis’ inappropriate conduct but failed to intervene.

The lawsuits name the Salvation Army’s USA Central Territory, Tri-City Corps and National Corporation as defendants, alleging negligence and other failures that allowed the abuse to take place under the organization’s watch.

“It fires me up as a litigator to make sure that we get a pound of flesh in these cases,” Grieco said. “That the wrong people can get a spotlight shown on them, so that people can get justice after decades of suffering.”

The Chicago-based firm specializes in sexual abuse litigation against faith-based institutions, including the Archdiocese of Chicago, Grieco said. He said allegations of abuse within the organization extend beyond its Illinois operations.

“There is a systemic issue related to abuse against the Salvation Army,” he said. “There's lots of cases around the country that we've seen based on public dockets, and it's something that I think is coming to light more and more now.”

The lawsuits follow other sexual abuse cases connected to the Salvation Army in Chicago. In 2016, the organization was sued for negligence over allegations that two minors were sexually abused at the Kroc Center in West Pullman. And in 2024, John Kim, a youth pastor at the Salvation Army Mayfair Community Church on Chicago’s Northwest Side, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in a case involving the sexual abuse of a minor, CBS Chicago reported.

Brian Duewel, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army’s North and Central Illinois Division, said in an email to the Sun-Times that the organization considers the safety and well-being of participants in its programs paramount and that any allegation of sexual misconduct is “deeply concerning.”

Duewel said the Salvation Army learned in early 2025 of four complaints against Davis dating back to the 1990s involving sexual misconduct with teenage girls. He said the organization had spent more than a year working to understand the allegations and engage with the claimants and their attorneys

All claims had gone through mediation and one had been resolved, Duewel said. The organization encourages anyone who may have been harmed by Davis to contact authorities.

"Mr. Davis has not been affiliated with The Salvation Army for more than two decades, and he will never again be employed by or serve with the Salvation Army in any capacity," Duewel said.

Grieco clarified that none of the three women’s cases had been resolved, and said it remains unclear how long Davis continued working in ministry with the Salvation Army.

Davis pleaded guilty in 2003 to criminal sexual abuse involving Wynveen in Kane County Circuit Court, according to court documents. He was sentenced to 36 months probation and 60 days of periodic imprisonment, and was registered as a sex offender.

The complaints allege that the Salvation Army never conducted its own investigation, even after Davis faced criminal prosecution. The attorneys hope the litigation will establish what the organization knew about his conduct, when it learned of the allegations and what steps, if any, it took in response.

“[The Salvation Army] knows something, and we need to discover what all of that is,” Grieco said.

The attorneys are also seeking information from former Salvation Army employees, volunteers, officers, youth group members and parents who may have witnessed or heard about Davis’ conduct.

For the women, speaking publicly is also a way to challenge the silence they say has compounded the harm of the abuse.

“The culture of the world that we live in right now is to sweep things under the rug, and to blame the victims, and to take the easiest out possible,” Kozak said. “We need to change that. And that is why I'm standing here right now talking about what happened to me.”