Family receives settlement from nonprofit after child injured, court documents say

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Court documents show a nonprofit organization that is keeping its identity secret agreed to settle a lawsuit involving the injury of a child.

The victim’s parents say he was injured in October 2018 in Dorchester County by a volunteer with a nonprofit organization listed as “XYZ Corporation,” a corporation that legally does not exist in South Carolina, according to South Carolina officials.

In the settlement, XYZ Corporation agreed to place an unspecified amount of money in a trust fund for the child until he turns 18. Documents state the full amount of the settlement will be paid to the child by the time he is 30.

Previous settlements involving the XYZ Corporation have centered on cases in which parents allege their children were molested by a volunteer. Molestation is not mentioned in this latest settlement.

In one of the earlier settlements, NewSpring Church was listed as a defendant in supporting documentation, but those documents were removed from public view after Live 5 News began asking questions about that case.

NewSpring Church would not comment when asked if it was in fact the XYZ Corporation. But a former volunteer at that church, Jacop Hazlett, is serving a 75-year prison sentence for molesting children at the North Charleston church.

A jury found Jacop Hazlett guilty of six charges in December 2019. He was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

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