PORTLAND — A Portland man is suing the Jehovah’s Witnesses because he was allegedly sexually abused by a church member in Augusta and the denomination did nothing to protect him.

Bryan Rees, 23, seeks unspecified damages for abuse that Rees says he endured between 1989 and 1992.

Rees claims that leaders in the Augusta church he attended as a teen-ager knew that Larry Baker had molested a child in the past but did not warn church members or expel Baker.

Besides Baker, the lawsuit names one of the denomination’s legal corporations, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc., along with Alan Ayers, Rees’ stepfather, and Patrick LaBreck and Robert Wells, who were leaders in his congregation.

Part of the Jehovah Witnesses’ defense is based on its constitutional right to religious freedom.

The way in which the Watchtower Society chooses leaders and disciplines church members is part of its practice of religion, says Bruce Mallonee, the attorney representing Wells, LaBreck and the Society.

If the case goes to trial, “[that] puts the court in the position of telling the religious organization how to run its affairs,” Mallonee said.

Mallonee has asked the Cumberland County Superior Court to dismiss the case. A ruling on that request is expected this summer.

Rees’ attorney says that churches and church leaders should be held accountable for leaders’ mistakes.

“It’s disgusting to think their interest in governing their own people somehow surpasses the state’s and our own interest in making sure [abuse] doesn’t happen,” Michael J. Waxman said.

According to the lawsuit, Baker was Rees’ next-door neighbor in the Lincoln County town of Jefferson and a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation to which Rees’ family belonged.

Court papers filed by attorney M. Michaela Murphy on behalf of Baker deny the bulk of Rees’ allegations.

Baker could not be reached for comment. There was no telephone listing for him in the town of Jefferson.