Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Tupelo Daily Journal reports:
A former east Tupelo youth pastor will spend the next decade in prison after admitting in court that he had sex multiple times with a 16-year-old church member. Alexander Ryan Blackwelder, 28, was the youth pastor at East Main Street Church of Christ in early 2023 when authorities received a tip that he was having an inappropriate relationship with a juvenile girl.
Blackwelder must register as a sex offender. He was indicted on four counts of sexual battery by someone in a position of trust, touching a child for lustful purposes and exploitation of a child for requesting sexually explicit pictures. Blackwelder also denied having an inappropriate relationship when first questioned by police. But after leaving the police interview, he told the victim to delete files from her phone.
Read the full article. My 2023 report on the arrest is here.
Alexander Blackwelder, a former Tupelo youth pastor, has pleaded guilty to a child sex crime and was sentenced to prison. https://t.co/6oOKD38CYg
— SuperTalk News (@SuperTalkNews) February 13, 2025