
Matt Queen
New York, NY | The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced a charge against former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary interim provost Matt Queen on May 21. In a statement, investigators allege one count “in connection with falsified notes Queen produced to the FBI related to an ongoing federal investigation.”
Queen, 49, now lead pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., was arraigned, DOJ reported.
“Matthew Queen, an interim Provost, allegedly failed to inform the FBI of a conspiracy to destroy evidence related to the ongoing investigation of sexual misconduct and instead produced falsified notes to investigators,” said James Smith, FBI assistant director in charge. “Queen’s alleged actions deliberately violated a court order and delayed justice for the sexual abuse victims. The FBI will never tolerate those who intentionally lie and mislead our investigation in an attempt to conceal their malicious behavior.”
SWBTS issued a statement on the same day.
“The indictment…stems from a report in November 2022 of an alleged sexual abuse committed by a Texas Baptist College student. Within hours of becoming aware of an arrest warrant for the student on January 24, 2023, the seminary facilitated the arrest of the accused student, who was suspended and later withdrew from the college.
“When the institution became aware of the original report and the later responses of certain staff, the seminary disclosed the matter to the Department of Justice, as required by a DOJ subpoena…. After the seminary learned of Queen’s actions in June 2023, he was immediately placed on administrative leave and resigned as interim provost. All employees alleged to have acted improperly in this matter are no longer employed by the seminary,” the seminary’s statement said.
This is the first indictment DOJ has brought forward in its investigation of SBC actions related to sexual abuse.
The Department of Justice first informed SBC leaders of its intent to investigate in August 2022. DOJ told the SBC Executive Committee in March 2024 that they were closing the probe into actions by the SBC Executive Committee, according to an EC statement on March 6. No indictments were brought forward in that investigation.
— Baptist Press, with IB staff