relations, that the allegation was escalated by the pastor to the pastor/landlord who was involved, but that ultimately that he felt supported by the pastors at Tenth. 361 3.
Meeting at the Pastor/Landlord’s Home
All parties interviewed by GRACE investigators regarding the allegations against Lucas Saenz are in agreement that some days after the incident, there was a meeting between Lucas Saenz, [RV], the witness and her son, and the pastor/landlord and his wife at the pastor/landlord’s residence.362 Parties are in conflict at who requested the meeting. The pastor/Landlord claims that RV, the witness and her son requested the meeting,363 while the witness reports that the pastor/landlord and Saenz asked for the meeting.364 However, all parties agree also that a main focus of the meeting whether or not RV would become pregnant and whether Saenz and RV should get married.365 Most descriptively, the witness describes: I did get a call from [the pastor who was friends with Saenz] And his idea was that they should get married… he counseled him to go get an engagement ring and propose to her. She did not particularly want to marry him, although she liked the idea of getting an engagement ring and getting married.366 Throughout various descriptions of the meeting, consistent themes of the meeting dynamics arise across the parties. One of those themes is the one-sided nature of the retelling of the events, namely that Saenz was more communicative of his thoughts on the incident, yet RV was mostly silent. The witness describes the meeting this dynamic as follows: [I]t was really awful and very painful because basically the young man wanted to describe blow-by-blow what he did, every little detail. And [RV] was excruciatingly embarrassed . . . It's just that in that meeting, there was no consideration or concern given to [RV]. The young man was not really held accountable . . . he did not deny restraining her. He did not deny taking her 361
Id. at Witness Transcript at 12. See also Saenz Transcript at 10; Pastor/Landlord Transcript at 4. 363 Pastor/Landlord Transcript at 3. 364 Witness Transcript at 12. 365 See Pastor/Landlord Transcript at 5, stating that Saenz said “if she got pregnant, [Saenz] was willing to marry her. In fact, he even went out and bought a diamond ring expecting to marry her.” See also Saenz Transcript at 12, indicating that after this incident that Saenz tried to keep in contact with RV for two months, and that if she wanted to get married, he would have married her. He admits he got a ring for her. 366 Witness Transcript at 12. 362
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