DALLAS — A pastor, and the brother of a man who alleged in a YouTube talk show that North Texas megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes tried to groom and sexually assault him years ago, now alleges Jakes tried to sexually assault him too, court records show.
Pastor Richard Youngblood’s claims against Jakes were included in an affidavit attached to a motion to dismiss Jakes’ defamation lawsuit against Richard’s brother, Duane Youngblood.
Jakes, the founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, filed a defamation lawsuit against Duane Youngblood, 58, in November. That lawsuit alleged Youngblood said, in appearances on the YouTube talk show Larry Reid Live, that Jakes tried to kiss him and called him from a bathtub, telling Youngblood he wanted to sleep with him when Youngblood was in his late teens.
In a new affidavit this week, Richard Youngblood alleged Jakes tried to sexually assault him, too, in the 1980s.
Specifically, Richard Youngblood alleged in the affidavit that he went with Jakes on a trip as his driver, and Jakes got into his bed in their hotel room, pressed against him and tried to kiss him.
“At this point, I cannot believe what is happening to me,” Richard’s account in the affidavit reads. “I had moved my family, following this man around the country and in this hotel, I am being introduced to what amounted to a Groomer.”
“On our way back after the meeting, I brought up what happened and expressed my extreme discomfort and that I loved my wife,” Richard said of Jakes in the affidavit. “His response was a slight grunt something like ‘hmmm’ to which I asked what that meant and he responded that it kind of hurt his feeling to hear me say that.”
Richard alleged in the affidavit that he told a church elder about what happened, and Jakes found out, and he was no longer allowed to attend Jakes’ church as a result.
“It’s been 39 years of my life, my now-ex-wife and our children, products of a broken home and our faith crushed to pieces,” Richard says in the affidavit.
WFAA has reached out to The Potter’s House for comment from T.D. Jakes and have not heard back.
In Jakes’ defamation lawsuit against Richard Youngblood’s brother Duane Youngblood, Jakes alleged a lawyer purporting to represent Duane in a Nov. 15 letter asked Jakes for $6 million “to resolve this matter quickly and privately” shortly after the episodes of his appearances on Larry Reid Live were published online.
Jakes’ lawsuit also alleges that Duane is a registered sex offender. Duane was convicted of sexual assault of a minor in 2008 and corruption of minors in 2014, according to Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry.
Jakes’ lawsuit seeks $75,000 in damages in addition to attorney’s fees and punitive damages.