Former Kanakuk Kamp employee charged with sexual abuse of a child

A former employee of the controversial Kanakuk Kamp in Lampe, Missouri, has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor after a year-long investigation, according to Dallas police.

According to police, 46-year-old Matthew Harmon is accused of second-degree sexual abuse of a child.

Harmon reportedly met the alleged victim in 2007 while working at Providence School in Dallas. Harmon also worked at Trinity Christian Academy. And during the summers, he worked at Kanakuk in Darango, Colorado, and Kanakuk in Branson, Missouri, from 1995 to the mid-2000s.

Kanakuk has been in the spotlight for years after former employee Pete Newman pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual abuse of boys in 2010. He is currently serving two life sentences, according to published reports.

Another Kanakuk employee, Lee Bradbury, pleaded guilty in 2013 to four counts of sex crimes involving Kanakuk campers. Five other former Kanakuk employees have also been convicted of sex crimes committed after leaving the camp.

On May 28, the Dallas Police Child Exploitation Squad issued an arrest warrant for Harmon, according to a prepared statement from the police department.

The investigation revealed that Harmon had contact with thousands of children through his work and volunteer work.

“Harmon was employed at Providence from approximately July 2004 to December 2007, when he resigned in the middle of the 2007-2008 school year for unspecified personal reasons,” the school district said in a statement.

The school’s investigation “found credible reports of misconduct by Harmon during and after his tenure at Providence,” the statement said.

Findings included grooming behavior, emotional abuse, inappropriate conversations about sex, and sexual abuse of minors.

The advance behaviors demonstrated toward female students included: private meetings with female students, making inappropriate comments about a girl’s body that made her uncomfortable, buying gifts, tickling an underage student, and purchasing alcohol for an underage student.

Emotional abuse reported in the investigation included excessive running as a disciplinary measure and inappropriate comments about a girl’s body.

The reported sexual abuse of a child involved a former Providence student whom he abused while she was a student at Providence.

The school’s investigation found that the child sexual abuse occurred both during Harmon’s employment at Providence and after his employment ended.

According to the Springfield News Leader, Harmon is free on $40,000 bail.

Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter who primarily covers crime for The Oklahoman and Tulsa World.