Prosecutors in AP report about church abuse lose their jobs

By MITCH WEISS and JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

A North Carolina district attorney says two assistant prosecutors are no longer working for him following a report by The Associated Press on a church where they are members. Ex-congregants there say officials beat members and derailed criminal investigations.

District Attorney David Learner said in a statement Friday that he can’t let the integrity of his office be called into question.

The announcement came two days after Learner requested a State Bureau of Investigation probe into prosecutors Frank Webster and Chris Back and four days after an AP story about the men.

Ex-members of Word of Faith church in Spindale told the AP Webster and Back provided legal advice, helped at strategy sessions and participated in a mock trial for four congregants charged with harassing a former member.

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