"Now it sounds like it’s getting into harassing individuals that aren’t bothering anyone," he said in an interview. "It sounds like you’re trying to defame the character of the school and the church and everything that has to do with St. Andrew."
BART has routinely granted permits allowing St. Andrew to solicit donations, and staff previously defended that action to its board citing free speech rights. But Sweet and Director Robert Raburn now are asking BART's lawyers to determine what leeway the agency has to restrict the soliciting activities of St. Andrew.
"By all accounts, this is not a group that we want to promote on public property," Raburn wrote in an email to California Watch.
Raburn said he became concerned last year when he saw unsupervised St. Andrew students asking for money at the Fruitvale BART after dark. Sweet also grew alarmed, she said, after seeing the soliciting continue day after day.
But BART staff responded to the board in a December memo that "the speech activities are protected on the grounds that the Church is a religious organization engaged in charitable solicitation."
St. Andrew students have been raising money for years, but it's unclear where the money is going. The pastor drives a Cadillac Escalade while the school building needs repairs.
California Watch recently uncovered allegations of abuse at the hands of Robert Lacy Jr., who teaches at the school and sometimes takes students to solicit at BART stations. Former students said he hit and threw things at children in his classes. Lacy Jr. has said he doesn't have "any history" of hitting children.
Sweet said the staff decision to keep monthly permits flowing to St. Andrew was "the wrong thing to do."
"It didn’t appear that they were raising money for a legitimate cause," she said. "It also appeared that they were out there too long – they were being abused."
BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver said that as a public agency, BART has to issue the permits "on a level playing field." She said BART police monitored the situation and did not observe any violations.
"BART takes children’s safety very seriously," Salaver said.
BART issued this month's permit to Andrew Lacy, another son of the pastor. The permit allows fundraising every day from 5 to 7 p.m. at seven BART stations in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro.
Andrew Lacy has a history of illegal activity. He pleaded guilty to felony welfare fraud in 2004, according to court records. And, according to police records newly obtained by California Watch, he was also arrested in 2002 on charges of injuring his girlfriend with a club. He was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in that case, which was later dismissed after he satisfied the conditions of his probation, according to court records.
