A former pastor from California has been accused of sexual abuse and child trafficking at a shelter he ran in Bucharest, according to lawsuits filed by two Romanian men in the California District Court, AP reported. The two men say Havsgaard lured street children with food and the promise of shelter and education. The complaints detail sexual assaults, inappropriate touching, and abuses in which children were forced to kneel on walnut shells or were tied to beds or radiators. “This misguided lawsuit wrongly targets Harvest Riverside and our pastor as a form of financial extortion,” the statement said. According to the complaints, the abuse was not stopped despite red flags and reports from donors, visitors, and other people who suspected sexual abuse and who saw poor living conditions at the shelter.