DETROIT — According to a 23-year-old mother, who is not being identified, last July on a Sunday, her two-year-old child was sexually abused at the Detroit Church Grandvale Corps Community Center while parents were attending services and kids were in Sunday school. The church is operated by the Salvation Army. 

When the mother went to pick up the child from Sunday school she wasn’t there. The woman says she eventually found the child naked in the church’s basement. 

According to a report, the church’s pastor told the mother to keep quiet and not call police. The woman instead went straight to Children’s Hospital in Detroit, where she was told that rape didn’t occur, but there were signs of numerous lacerations to the child’s genital area. 

The mother is questioning how the child was able to get out of the Sunday school teacher’s sight.  Michigan State Police is processing evidence on the case, and the Detroit Police are using surveillance video and sign-in sheets to I.D. and interview everybody who was there. 

In a statement issued to WXYZ channel 7, the Salvation Army said, “We continue to express deep concern for the young girl whose mother reported an incident that allegedly occurred earlier this year at the Grandvale Corps Community Center. Our prayers and thoughts go out to her and her family. We continue to assist the police with their investigation and don’t speculate on an ongoing investigation.”