New Texas law bans NDAs in child sex abuse cases

DALLAS — A Dallas woman who says her brother died by suicide after he was allegedly sexually abused at Kanakuk, a Christian summer camp in Missouri, was a driving force behind a new Texas law — recently signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — that bans nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) in child sex abuse cases. 

The initially proposed bill, now known as Trey’s Law, was championed in the Texas House of Representatives by Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano) and Rep. Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas), and in the State Senate by Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney,).

Set to take effect Sept. 1, the legislation is named for Trey Carlock, a young man from Highland Park whose sister, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, has advocated for its passing for years. Phillips says her brother was abused from age 7 to 17 by Pete Newman, a former camp counselor at Kanakuk, a Christian summer camp popular among many Dallasites. D Magazine reports Kanakuk was founded in 1926 by Dallas resident C.L. Ford.

It’s reportedly changed hands multiple times over the years before it was bought by Joe White, an SMU alumnus, and his wife, Debbie-Jo, in 1976. It now has global reach with missions including Kanakuk Haiti. 

Newman, who was employed by Kanakuk from 1995 to 2009, was later convicted of sexually abusing multiple Kanakuk campers during his time there, and given two life sentences for his crimes. 

Beyond that conviction, Phillips said her brother and others pursued further civil litigation against Kanakuk in connection with the alleged abuse. But, according to testimony Phillips gave during legislative session hearings on Trey’s Law, her brother was prevented from speaking out about his alleged abuse due to an NDA he’d signed with the camp. He later died by suicide in 2019. 

“He was silenced to his grave by Kanakuk Ministries,” Phillips said in an interview with WFAA as the bill was being considered. “I actually still haven’t even read my brother’s settlement agreement and the NDA in it. I just know that it existed — because he was scared to talk about what happened to him even in confidential, therapeutic settings.”

After her brother’s death, Phillips and others started a website called factsaboutkanakuk.com, which includes a timeline of allegations levied against Kanakuk, lawsuits filed against Kanakuk and testimony from others who were allegedly also abused at the camp. 

In the process of compiling the information for that site, Phillips said, she became aware of a wide array abuse allegations against Kanakuk and its affiliated ministries — accusations from 221 alleged victims at the hands of 68 different alleged perpetrators, dating back as far as 1958.

“Once a group of survivor families got together and launched factsaboutkanakuk.com, we started getting more tips and more people coming forward telling us their stories — and it was just the same pattern over and over,” Phillips said. 

Here in North Texas, a former teacher and coach at Providence Christian School named Matthew Harmon was arrested in 2024 for the alleged sexual assault of a student while working at the school from 2004 to 2007. Police said Harmon had also worked as a volunteer at Trinity Christian Academy for several years, helping with an 8th grade wilderness camp, and that he also worked summers at Kanakuk camps in Durango, Colorado, and in Branson, Missouri. Harmon’s case is still making its way through the courts. A grand jury returned a true bill of indictment on the charges he was arrested for in July of last year, and an announcement hearing set for July 31 is currently slated as the next proceeding in his case.

Dallas lawyer Zeke Fortenberry, who represents another Texas man in a Travis County legal case that alleges his client was also abused by Newman over the course of a few years, said cases like Newman’s and Harmon’s are indicative of a larger pattern.

“In our case, the abuse occurred in Texas when Pete Newman was on what’s called the ‘Winter Trail,'” Fortenberry said. 

Fortenberry said the term “Winter Trail” refers to Kanakuk staffers traveling during the camp’s off-season in hopes of recruiting campers. 

Said Fortenberry of his client: “It was at their personal home where the abuse occurred.”

Fortenberry alleges that, even in the face of abuse accusations, Kanakuk failed to change its policies that encouraged counselors like Newman to visit the homes of campers during the camp’s offseason. 

“What we’ve uncovered in the last couple of years, as more and more of this has come to the public eye, is that this is not at all a one-off occurrence, but a pattern of abuse by Pete Newman and other camp counselors,” Fortenberry said. “We learned that it was truly the negligence of the camp, generally, that led to these boys being abused.”

For Phillips, whose efforts to bring allegations to light culminated in the signing of Trey’s Law over the weekend, the first step to recovery is helping create safeguards for victims to come forward with their stories. 

“No entity should be immune from accountability when it comes to the s*xual abuse of children!,” she wrote in a tweet about the bill being signed into law. “Thank you @realmitchlittle @AngelaPaxtonTX for leading this important legislation to victory in Texas, now officially law.” 

Leach, having authored it, too believes Trey’s Law’s passing is a major step forward for abuse victims.

“Trey’s Law is now officially the law of the land,” he wrote in a statement provided to WFAA. “With its passage, shielding predators while silencing victims will no longer be tolerated in Texas. This landmark piece of legislation empowers victims and survivors and holds individuals and institutions accountable, no longer allowing them to hide in the shadows of illegal NDAs. I’m grateful to Governor Abbott for signing this critical legislation into law and to every survivor who stepped forward. Their bravery and courage made this possible, and, as the author of Trey’s Law, I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to be their voice in the halls of the Texas Capitol.”

In April, another lawsuit was filed against Kanakuk in a Missouri court, this one by an unidentified Dallas woman who alleges she was sexually abused at the camp by Newman in 2008 when she was 9 years old. 

“In June 2010, following Newman’s arrest, the Kanakuk defendants crafted a message to be sent out to approximately 8,000 Kanakuk families admitting that ‘several years ago’ they became aware of Newman’s inappropriate conduct and failed to take the necessary actions,” this latest lawsuit alleges. “Despite the reports of inappropriate conduct against Newman made in 1999, 2003 and 2006, which the Kanakuk Defendants admit to receiving in its proposed June 17, 2010 letter, the Kanakuk Defendants continued to retain Newman as an employee.”

Continues the lawsuit: “Despite having explicit knowledge of the particular sexual danger Newman posed to Plaintiff prior to the onset of his abuse, Kanakuk Defendants did nothing to supervise Newman’s actions with Plaintiff, nothing to control Newman, and nothing to protect Plaintiff.”

Kanakuk has acknowledged Newman’s 2009 conviction, and the camp has additionally said that it identified in 2011 a second alleged abuser in its employ. 

In a statement shared to its website, Kanakuk said that, like Newman, the second abuser was also fired from his role after the allegations came to light. The site also said that camp leadership reported the allegations to and cooperated with law enforcement in that case.

“As soon as Kanakuk became aware of abuse, we took action, including immediate termination and reporting him to authorities,” the statement said of Newman in particular. “We immediately began conversations with identified victims and their families, and notified parents of current and former campers. Additionally, Kanakuk set out to elevate our safety practices, which resulted in the Kanakuk Child Protection Plan (the “CPP”). While there are still calls for Kanakuk to ‘release victims from NDA’s so that they can share their story’, and accusations that we are silencing victims, Kanakuk has made it clear that we absolutely support the right of victims to share their story in pursuit of their healing. Furthermore, Kanakuk continues to offer support to victims, including providing independent counseling if desired.”

WFAA has reached out to Kanakuk for additional comment. We’ll update this story as additional information becomes available.