The pastor of Landover's First Baptist Church of Highland Park sexually harassed a longtime member and employee, then took retaliatory action against her when she complained to the church's trustees, according to a 43-year-old Waldorf woman who filed a complaint with Prince George's County Human Resources Commission.

Stephanie Wyatt, who decided to go public with her Jan. 21 complaint, alleges the Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III inappropriately touched her in the church and made suggestive comments to her during sermons.

Wyatt worked as an office administrator for the church, which has about 3,000 parishioners, since August 2003. From December 2003 through December 2004, Wyatt said, Rev. Davis inappropriately touched her in the church and commented about her beauty during sermons.

"I am the only one in the office that the Pastor goes to great lengths to greet with hugs and kisses," according to the complaint obtained by The Examiner. "The others began to notice this and make jokes."

Church attorney Wendy A. Cartwright, of Bowie, confirmed that they have received a copy of the complaint.

"Based upon the statement given to us by Mrs. Wyatt, the church found her statement totally unsubstantiated by any facts whatsoever," Cartwright said.

The complaint does not fit Davis' nature, said Cartwright, who is also a member of the church. "Since I've been there, I've never seen anything of that nature."

She refused to comment further because the issue is a personnel matter and before the Prince George's County Human Resources Commission.

The commission reviews equal employment opportunity complaints before they can be filed in state court.

Phone calls placed to Rev. Davis and to the church were not returned.

In October 2004, Wyatt said she confronted Davis about his "unwelcome and inappropriate remarks and touching of my body." As a result, she said she was stripped of her duties creating church bulletins, denied bonuses and the privilege of being a church member, and ultimately suspended with pay from working in the church office.

Wyatt, who is married, said at first she tried to keep this within the church, and in November 2004 asked the church trustees and deacons to meet with her and Davis so she could ask for an apology.

"The tone they've taken towards her is so nasty and so retaliatory," said Wyatt's attorney, Diane Seltzer, of Washington.

She said they have videotaped evidence of inappropriate statements Davis made about Wyatt from the pulpit, and that since the complaint, Wyatt has been persecuted.

Wyatt said the pastor's actions hurt deeply because her employer was also her spiritual guide. "I don't have anyone to go to for spiritual counseling," she said.

Not everyone in the church agrees with the official decision rendered by Cartwright, Wyatt said. At a contentious annual church meeting held Monday night, she said others in the church and members of the board of trustees and deacons supported her, but were overruled by the majority of church leadership.

"I have been treated terribly by the [pastor] since making my complaint of sexual harassment," the complaint states.

Copyright 2005 Washington Examiner