*A Texas pastor’s failure to disclose his herpes diagnosis to a woman he met online will cost him $2.45 million.
According to the Daily Mail, Ralph Douglas West II, the assistant pastor at Houston’s The Church Without Wall, met the unnamed victim on Facebook. They had a sexual tryst and she got an outbreak a few days after their encounter. That’s when she tested positive for genital herpes.
The woman knew immediately that West was responsible for giving her the STD because she hadn’t had sex with anyone else. She also had a previous test come back negative, Daily Mail reports.
The woman’s legal team was able to prove that West knew he was infected with the STD and lied about it when he had unprotected sex with the woman in 2018.
After the woman’s outbreak, he apparently admitted that he contracted herpes from his wife.
Last week, a jury found West guilty of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraudulent concealment, according to the Daily Mail. He will have to pay the woman $1,450,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000,000 in exemplary/punitive damages.
“You can’t fix it, she’s got it for the rest of her life,” said the woman’s attorney Shaun Murphy, as reported by Click 2 Houston.
Several social media users are demanding West be fired from the megachurch.
“Lol me and my mom were just talking about how to spot a false prophet and here goes a Houston mega pastor found guilty of knowingly spreading herpes,” said one X user, Daily Mail reports.
West’s father is the founder of the church and a church member took to Facebook to support the family.
“My faith in the Lord and my support for my pastor and his family will not be impacted by recent events. I will continue to lift them up in prayer and support them,” wrote Kim Walker, according to the Daily Mail.
“These are trying times please respect their privacy in this matter I’m asking in the name of Jesus that we as a people not vilify this family. Compassion and forgiveness is what Jesus teaches us to do for all of God’s children. Life gives all of us different trials and tribulations and we will seek Jesus to forgive all of our iniquities. Let’s not judge but forgive.”
READ MORE: White Georgia Pastor Goes Viral with Sermon Justifying Slavery | WATCH
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