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   As accusations mount, victim advocates question police   
   commitment to investigation. Rush has denied all allegations.   
      
   Donna Fields holds a photo of her son Marcus Bell Jr. Bell says   
   that when he was 13, he was raped by Inspiring Body of Christ   
   Church Pastor Rickie Rush. Fields and her sister say Rush also   
   sexually abused them starting when they were teenagers.(Ben   
   Torres / Special Contributor)   
      
   By Miles Moffeit and Sue Ambrose   
      
   6:00 AM on May 23, 2021 CDT   
      
   Note: This story contains depictions of sexual and physical   
   abuse that may be disturbing.   
      
   A former member of the Inspiring Body of Christ Church says he   
   was 13 when Pastor Rickie Rush raped him, an allegation Dallas   
   police say they are investigating.   
      
   Marcus Bell Jr., 26, described the assault in recent interviews   
   with The Dallas Morning News, saying it came after a week of   
   beatings by Rush in 2007 that left him bruised and barely able   
   to walk. At least six former members of the church told The News   
   that Rush often targeted him for whippings in the name of   
   discipline.   
      
   The News also recently obtained an affidavit that another former   
   IBOC member submitted to Dallas police two years ago, alleging   
   Rush touched her inappropriately around 2006.   
      
   Bell and the woman are among 12 former church members The News   
   has reported on since September who have alleged a range of   
   abuse by the evangelist when they were teens or younger. They   
   described beatings with wooden paddles, sometimes when they were   
   handcuffed or tied down, hazing, and sexual grooming that led to   
   assaults.   
      
   “Rush needs to be held accountable,” said Bell, who is serving   
   the final 16 months of a five-year prison sentence for robbery.   
   “He doesn’t need to be doing this to anybody else.”   
      
   Donna Fields, 47, wipes away tears while looking at a photo of   
   her son Marcus Bell Jr., when he was 12 years old. Bell says he   
   was raped by Pastor Rickie Rush when he was 13. Fields and her   
   sister also say Rush sexually assaulted them.(Ben Torres /   
   Special Contributor)   
   As accusations mount, victim advocates question whether police   
   have taken the investigation of Rush seriously enough, given his   
   longstanding access to children. No criminal charges have been   
   filed against him.   
      
   The alleged incidents date back three decades, to when Rush, 61,   
   founded the church, which sits on a 50-acre campus in southern   
   Dallas. At one point IBOC topped 10,000 members, and it has   
   housed a grade school and daycare center.   
      
   Through his attorneys Michael Heiskell and Renee Higganbotham-   
   Brooks, Rush continues to deny all allegations of abuse,   
   including those made by Bell, his family and other church   
   members in two earlier News reports.   
      
   “The rehash of these baseless allegations serves as a third   
   attempt by these individuals through The Dallas Morning News to   
   continue this smear campaign against him and IBOC,” according to   
   their statement.   
      
   “The IBOC community stands solidly behind Pastor Rush,” the   
   attorneys said.   
      
   Victim advocates have called for his resignation and held more   
   than a dozen demonstrations outside his church. Rush continues   
   to hold services.   
      
   Police have known about Bell’s rape accusation since October but   
   did not interview him, even by phone, until April. Police said   
   they had made a half-dozen efforts to visit Bell but prison   
   officials did not allow it due to the pandemic, along with other   
   issues.   
      
   Debra Bowles, director of the Women Called Moses Coalition and   
   Outreach, a crisis agency that serves predominantly women and   
   children of color who are victims of violence, said many in the   
   Black community worry that police have not devoted enough   
   attention to the investigation or publicly appealed to potential   
   victims too afraid to step forward.   
      
   “There’s already a concern out there that Black women aren’t   
   getting all the support they need from police,” Bowles said.   
   “And they fear the same here, that justice isn’t going to be   
   done.”   
      
   Bowles credited Bell for speaking out, saying he is “breaking   
   the silence for victims in the community.”   
      
   Dallas police Chief Eddie García, who took over the department   
   in February, told The News that he is reviewing the case and   
   wants to assure those who have any information about abuse   
   within the church that the department is serious about its   
   investigation.   
      
   “We want to support them. We want them to come forward. We need   
   them to come forward,” García said. “There’s no question about   
   it.”   
      
   ‘Grooming’   
   Bell’s account of being beaten by Rush and a therapist’s   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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