KS Democrat lobs disputed sex abuse cover-up allegation against Hamilton
A Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Kansas raised eyebrows this week after promoting salacious allegations that his opponent’s church covered up a sex abuse scandal more than two decades ago, an accusation that his opponent’s campaign flatly called false.
Patrick Schmidt, a state senator from Topeka, lobbed the accusations at the Rev. Adam Hamilton, the presumptive frontrunner, in a news release and press conference on Wednesday as the pair jockey for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in November.
While Schmidt’s allegations target Hamilton, a series of court records reviewed by The Star paint a more complex picture that does not back up the core of his claims. Those records, which largely do not name Hamilton, show that his church conducted an internal investigation about the abuse, reported it to law enforcement after identifying the abuser and that Hamilton personally played a role in a report about additional abuse by the perpetrator.
Schmidt has called on Hamilton to drop out of the race and “allow a full public reckoning to take place.” Meanwhile, Hamilton’s campaign accused Schmidt of “lying to the people of Kansas about a tragic event and attacking the church for his political gain.”
The controversy offered a preview of what could be a turbulent Senate race in Kansas. Hamilton, the founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist Church, has ushered in hope that Kansas Democrats could grab a Senate seat for the first time since the 1930s, but he first has to win over voters in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary.
Schmidt’s campaign launched the attack on Wednesday, sharing a tranche of court records with The Star and other reporters centered around Scott Preston Moore, a former church retreat volunteer who was convicted in 2013 of a misdemeanor sexual battery charge.
Inside the allegations
Moore was accused of a slew of sex crimes involving children throughout the early 2000s and 2010s and was ultimately convicted of inappropriately touching a 16-year-old boy in 2010 at Moore’s home in Overland Park. The court records promoted by Schmidt’s campaign come from that criminal case against Moore, who later died in 2015.
Schmidt’s allegations focus on Linn County youth retreats in 2005 and 2006 that were hosted by the Church of the Resurrection, the church co-founded by Hamilton, where he serves as lead pastor. The incidents involve teenage boys who alleged that a man, who was later revealed to be Moore, came into their rooms and touched them at night, according to court records.
The boys reported the 2005 incidents to camp leaders, who were “dismissive of their claims,” according to an appellate decision in the criminal case. The church conducted an internal investigation, but was “unable to conclusively identify the perpetrator,” the filing said.
Another court filing provides further details about the investigation. It states that while both boys provided statements to church officials, neither was able to positively identify the perpetrator and the church did not report the incidents to law enforcement or social services.
“Neither boy was able to make out the facial features of the suspect or positively identify the defendant due to the darkness of the room and the blinding light that had been shined directly at their faces,” the filing said.
Schmidt has seized on the 2005 incident, framing it as an example of a cover-up or a failure by church leadership, including Hamilton, even though he was not named anywhere in documents about the incident. In his press release, he accuses the church of protecting an abuser, “leaving vulnerable children exposed to further abuse.”
Moore’s arrest
In 2006, Moore returned to the camp as a cabin leader. During the retreat, Moore was accused of entering campers’ rooms at night, but the court records do not indicate evidence of sexual abuse by Moore. In the wake of those allegations, church leaders alerted the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and court records indicate that the church also reported the 2005 incidents to law enforcement.
The police investigation was turned over to the Linn County prosecutor, who declined to press charges. However, the church revoked Moore’s ability to “work with children, youth and vulnerable adults,” court filings said.
In 2010, an adult man who was living out of state confided in Hamilton about abuse at the hands of Moore when Moore was his babysitter in 1979. That man decided to report the abuse to police after speaking with Hamilton, according to Hamilton’s campaign.
The man was around 5 years old, and Moore was 15 when he forced him to perform sexual acts, according to court filings.
The man “did not report the incident until he learned that the defendant was suspected of abusing children at a church retreat,” the filing said. “At that time, he spoke with the pastor of the church and chose to make a report so the information could be documented.”
A month later, police began investigating a report that a 16-year-old had been touched inappropriately by Moore, his friend’s father, at a sleepover at Moore’s home in Overland Park. This case ultimately resulted in the charges and criminal sentence against Moore and the revelations about the series of incidents involving him.
The Church of the Resurrection also enacted new policies to screen and train volunteers. The church uses the Safe Gatherings program, which started in 2012 and includes mandated reporting requirements, according to its website.
Some of the church’s recently enacted policies include a requirement that any information indicating a crime “will be promptly reported to law enforcement regardless of the state of the Church’s investigation,” according to its website.
Schmidt vs. Hamilton
In his press release, Schmidt accused Hamilton’s church of failing to properly handle the allegations against Moore. The senator, who was elected in 2024, alleged that the church “betrayed the public trust in the most unforgivable way.”
Two websites promoting the allegations have appeared — and subsequently disappeared — online in recent days.
In response, Hamilton’s campaign called the allegations “exactly the kind of politics of destruction and division that is wrong with our politics today, and that has driven Adam to run for Senate.”
“It is sad that Patrick Schmidt is trying to revive his failing political campaign by attacking the church and using the pain of these families to spread these false and defamatory attacks,” said Hamilton spokesperson Tyson Brody.
In the immediate wake of Schmidt’s allegations, social media comments appeared to be broadly supportive of Hamilton. One comment referred to Schmidt’s accusations as “misleading to the point of slander.”
Hamilton and Schmidt are part of a crowded, 10-person Democratic primary to challenge Marshall, the incumbent senator who took office in 2021.
This story has been updated to include more details about the church’s new policies.
