In late 2012, a lawsuit in Montgomery County, Maryland was brought against Sovereign Grace Ministries for a conspiracy to cover-up child sex abuse. The plaintiffs claimed that church leaders, including Mahaney, did not report accusations of misconduct to the police. Larry Tomczak, a co-founder of SGM, who left the organization in the late 1990s, was alleged to have abused and assaulted a child in the form of administering corporal punishment over a period of twenty-five years. Tomczak was investigated and no charges were filed against him. All of the others who were named in the lawsuit, including Covenant Life Church pastors in Maryland, Sovereign Grace employees, and Fairfax Church in Virginia, were also investigated by law enforcement and no charges were brought.