FILE - Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster File)

Last month, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called child exploitation and sex trafficking an “exploding epidemic” in Missouri and around the country. Last year, he received the maximum individual donation allowed from a man accused of covering up child sex abuse.

Joe White runs Kanakuk Kamps, a collection of Christian summer camps near Branson, Mo. He has been accused of attempting to cover up rampant sexual abuse of children attending his camps during the 1990s and early 2000s.

The accusations found broad public attention after a 5,000-word investigative article by David and Nancy French, published on The Dispatch — a conservative-leaning online news magazine — last year.

The authors, in at times graphic detail, told the story of Pete Newman, one of Kanakuk Kamps’ directors from 1995 until 2009. During his tenure, he groomed and sexually abused, by his own admission, at least 57 young boys in the camps and on camp-sponsored trips.

Newman is currently serving a double life sentence, plus 30 years, for his crimes. The prosecutor on his case estimated the real number could be in the hundreds, the authors said.

While Newman’s abuse was ongoing, White and camp management seemingly turned a blind eye.

In a follow-up article, the Frenches say that during a 2012 deposition, White acknowledged he could have fired Newman after an incident where he rode a four-wheeler while nude with a camper. White chose not to fire him because one of Kanakuk’s primary measures of success “was the number of children the directors successfully encouraged to do Bible studies. Newman excelled at this metric,” according to the article’s authors.

In both articles, the Frenches describe non-disclosure agreements and private settlements White entered into with victims, keeping the story under wraps for a decade.

Since The Dispatch article’s publication, numerous victims have come forward to share their stories in newspapers and on news shows. They are speaking out “for the individuals at home that haven’t come out yet,” a man told Dallas’ CBS 11 while on a panel of Kanakuk abuse survivors and their family members.

As previously reported by Heartland Signal, Hawley spent a good portion of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination hearings casting himself as a crusader in search of justice for the victims of child predators, regularly accusing Jackson of leniency on their cases.

“If you look at what she’s done as a judge on the bench, when she had the chance to put away child predators … she chose to give them the lightest sentence possible, in case after case,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Last year, Hawley received a total of $5,800 from Joe White according to Federal Elections Commission data. His pick to fill Roy Blunt’s soon to be vacant seat, U.S. Rep. Vicki Hartzler, received a total of $5,000 from Debbie-Jo White, listed by the FEC as a camp director for Kanankuk Ministries.

Neither Hawley’s nor Hartzler’s offices responded to emailed requests for comment. Connor Lounsbury, deputy campaign manager for Lucas Kunce – who’s running on the Democrat ticket for Roy Blunt’s seat – said, “Nobody in Missouri is surprised that Vicky Hartzler’s piety doesn’t extend to her own damn campaign coffers … These donors literally are part of an institution that sexually abused multiple young boys. Mitch McConnell’s pick in this race has chosen money over Missouri values. Classic.”