wfn.org | Suit Filed against Frugal Gourmet

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3396 notes).

Note 3392 by UMNS on Jan. 27, 1997 at 15:46 Eastern (2041 characters).

SEARCH:  Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith, Seattle, sexual

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                     38(10-21-71){3392}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Jan. 27, 1997

Man claims 'Frugal Gourmet'
molested him as a teenager

                 by United Methodist News Service
     
     Jeff Smith, better known as the 'Frugal Gourmet', has been
sued by 36-year-old George Heitman of Tacoma, Wash., who alleges
the popular TV chef sexually assaulted him when he was 15.
     The suit, filed Jan. 23 in Pierce County Superior Court,
alleges that Smith "pursued a pattern and practice of grooming
high-school-age boy employees for sexual intercourse" when he ran
a Tacoma food-service business. 
     According to a copyrighted story in the Seattle Times, Jan.
24, the lawsuit is sure to be challenged in part because of the
age of the allegations.  The court papers also allege Smith
assaulted other unnamed young men. Smith, 58, is married and has
two sons. 
     Attempts by United Methodist News Service to reach Smith were
unsuccessful but his attorney, Ed Winskill of Tacoma, told the
Seattle Post Intelligencer his client "absolutely maintains he is
innocent of this charge."
     Smith is an ordained United Methodist minister but has not
been under appointment by the bishop and cabinet of the church's
Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference since he
"voluntarily located" in 1973.  
     "Location" is the process by which the authority of a clergy
person to exercise the rights and privileges of a minister
throughout the United Methodist Church is withdrawn.  Once
ordained, always ordained, according to United Methodist
officials, but full clergy rights -- inluding annual appointment
in an annual conference -- may be surrendered or removed.
                              #  #  #
     

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