Former Chicago Cubs player Ben Zobrist accused his pastor of having an extramarital affair with his wife and defrauding his charity in a Tennessee lawsuit.
Zobrist claims Byron Yawn was senior pastor at Community Bible Church in Nashville when in the spring of 2019, “he began meeting her (Zobrist’s wife) for sex,” according to the civil complaint filed in May as reported by NBC News.
Here’s a rundown of Zobrist’s allegations as stated in the lawsuit:
- In 2019, Pastor Yawn counseled Zobrist to “give his wife some space” in disingenuous advice aimed at “self-seeking advantage.”
- Yawn “secretly maintained a sexually intimate relationship with the plaintiff’s wife for the remainder of 2019 and into the spring of 2020, all the while concealing it from the plaintiff, his counselee.”
- Yawn became active in Zobrist’s “Patriot Forward” charity and used his role in that organization “as an excuse to meet with the plaintiff’s wife” beginning in the fall of 2018.
- “By December of 2018, the defendant drafted his own job description as executive director, involving himself in every facet of the plaintiff’s charity. When the defendant began meeting the plaintiff’s wife for sex during the spring of 2019, he was still the executive director of Patriot Forward.”
- In September 2018, Yawn submitted a proposed budget for the charity that included a $36,000 annual salary for himself.
- The charity fired Yawn in March 2019 when he was making $3,500 a month, Zobrist said. But despite being fired, “Mr. Yawn somehow continued to fraudulently receive salary checks until May of 2019 and he cashed these checks with full knowledge that his position had been terminated.”
Zobrist is seeking $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages, according to NBC.
Zobrist and his wife, Julianna, started attending the Community Bible Church in 2005. Yawn served as the couple’s pre-marital counselor that year, per the report.
Yawn also officiated the public dedication of their three infant children.
Zobrist said that while Yawn was still serving as their counselor, he continued his relationship with Julianna and the two started using “burner phones” to keep it secret.
Zobrist’s suit states he was tithing $10,000 per month to Yawn’s church and paid $10,000-$15,000 to fund a “pastoral trip” for Yawn and his family at one point.
So yeah, former Pastor Byron Yawn sounds like a genuine piece of crap.
Hammer and Nigel have more in today’s edition of “Legal Stuff.”
