Late last month, Police in Waco, Texas, arrested the former leader of the Chi Alpha chapter at Baylor University and pastor of Mountain Valley Fellowship in Waco on charges that he allowed a sex offender he called his “spiritual mentor” to sexually abuse two young relatives.
Christopher Hundl, 38, was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child, which is a first-degree felony, and later released on $50,000 bond. Now, the sex offender linked to the case has been arrested. Daniel Savala, 67, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child, which is a first-degree felony.
According to previous reports, Hundl brought the two children to the home of Savala several times between summer 2021 and March 2022. The two were in a sauna with the children, who were younger than 14, when Savala instructed the children to masturbate in front of them. Other incidents occurred at Hundl’s home while Savala was present.
From the Waco Tribune-Herald:
Savala is a convicted sex offender who is at the center of a sexual abuse scandal plaguing several Texas chapters of Chi Alpha, a worldwide college Christian ministry. According to the Texas sex offender registry, Savala was charged in 2012 for sexual abuse of a minor, a third-degree felony. According to court documents, he committed the offense in Alaska between 1995 and 1997. An Oct. 25, 2012, Ketchikan Daily News article says Savala was sentenced to 90 days in prison for the offense, in part because the crime took place when sentencing guidelines for sex offenders were lighter.
Other reports describe the victims as two boys, one of whom was 11 when the abuse occurred. The boy told investigators that Hundl and his sex offender accomplice told him not to tell anyone about the abuse.
Hundl reportedly said that the sex offender was like a “grandfather” to the children.
Image: Lundl (left) and Savala
