Tag Archives: Youth Pastor

First Coast News reports: A youth minister at Celebration Church in Jacksonville has been arrested and charged with six counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, newly-released documents show. Celebration Church says Williams was in this position as a volunteer. Rashad Williams, 34, was reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after it was discovered that he was in a …

The Daily Beast reports: A California church deacon allegedly sexually abused numerous boys on religious mission trips under the guise of inspecting their genitals for “concerning” moles—helping protect the children, he told them, from the ravages of skin cancer. The abuse dates back to at least 2009, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Sacramento federal court upon his July …

The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports: A man accused of possessing and disseminating child pornography worked at a Geneva-area church from 2016 until March. Rejoice Lutheran Church hired the Rev. Michael C. Willis to lead its youth ministry in 2016, according to the church’s Facebook page. Willis was ordained as a pastor in 2022, according to records on the website …

Wausau, Wisconsin’s CBS affiliate reports: A former Plover youth pastor has agreed to the terms of a plea deal in a child sexual assault case during a hearing Friday in Portage County. Jordan Huffman, 52, pleaded guilty to two counts of repeated sexual assault of a child and was convicted as a result. Six other charges were dismissed as part …

The Bellingham Herald reports: A Blaine mother of six who is a former teacher and currently a candidate for the local School Board was arrested Friday, June 2, and charged with three counts of child rape, four counts of child sexual assault and drug possession. Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was arrested by Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies after detectives for the …

The Modesto Bee reports: A Modesto man who stepped down from his role as a church youth leader a month before his arrest has pleaded guilty to molesting a family member. Michael Sasser, 41, was arrested in April on suspicion of three counts of child molestation for acts that occurred during a period of months in 2022. On Wednesday, he …

Harrisburg’s Fox affiliate reports: An Ephrata man is charged with possessing child pornography—and it’s not his first offense. Brandon S. Dasilva, 29, of Ephrata, was also charged in February 2021. Police say they found two images and one video of child pornography on Dasilva’s phone on March 1 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited …

South Carolina’s The State reports: A youth pastor faces new charges of video recording girls — some as young as 14 — in the bathroom of the church he was fired from recently. Daniel Kellan Mayfield, 35, was arrested Saturday and charged with using his phone to video record a woman while she was showering at her mother’s home in …

Spartanburg’s CBS affiliate reports: A now-former Upstate youth pastor is accused of videoing a woman while she was showering in Greenwood County. Once deputies arrived on the scene, they spoke with the victim who said while she was taking a shower at her mother’s house, she saw a light outside the bathroom window. She said she got out of the …

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: The Norman Police Department says a caregiver has been arrested after a report of a child under the age of 12 being molested around Christmas time. Officials say they responded to a home in Norman on December 28, 2022, where the original report was made. That caregiver was 45-year-old Christopher Fourcade, who was arrested Thursday …

The Fresno Bee reports: A Tulare man was sentenced on Friday to 300 years in prison for molesting a group of children in the late 1990s. Steven Brian Arey was convicted in April on 20 counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, according to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. Each count carried the special …

Click2Houston reports: A former employee of a Magnolia church is now the center of an investigation after he reportedly turned himself in and confessed to ‘inappropriate behavior with adolescents’ during his time at the ministry. Court documents state that Michael Anthony Romero was charged with indecency of a child involving sexual contact.  He also said that he had previously touched …

The Charlotte Observer reports: A former North Carolina police officer now faces additional sex and alcohol charges involving minors in York County, after officials from a Fort Mill church called deputies last month to report the allegations, according to law enforcement and court documents. Erickson Douglas Lee, 25, of Charlotte, was charged with four sex crimes Tuesday by York County …

Charlotte’s ABC affiliate reports: Records show a Cornelius police officer arrested for child sex-related crimes is accused of committing them while acting as a church youth leader. According to his arrest warrant out of York County, the allegations against Erickson Douglas Lee were for incidents reported between December 2020 and July 2022. The crimes all appear to have happened at …

The Christian Post reports: Christopher Burns, a former youth pastor at Perimeter Church in Georgia turned financial advisor, is now on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for allegedly defrauding dozens of investors of millions of dollars, which he splurged on a lavish lifestyle and an obsession with Disney World. Burns, who was last seen by his ex-wife and children on …

Virginia Beach’s NBC affiliate reports: A former Norfolk church youth group leader was sentenced to seven years in prison for the sexual abuse of a minor. Charles Willoughby III, 39 was convicted to seven years in prison for traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Willoughby routinely groomed minor teen girls who were part …

Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate reports: Wewoka Middle School principal and youth pastor, Cody Barlow was formally charged with two felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child under the age of 16 on Thursday. Barlow has been the WMS Principal since the 2019-2020 school year. A federal lawsuit filed on November 30 reveals graphic allegations of Barlow’s “grooming …

Jacksonville’s NBC affiliate reports: A Putnam County youth pastor was arrested and faces charges of possessing child porn, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Ed Wilds III, 45, is a youth pastor at Palatka Baptist Temple Church and a Middleton-Burney Elementary School teacher. Wilds’ father is the main pastor of the church and declined to comment on his son’s …

The Modesto Bee reports: A Modesto man who has served in a leadership role over student ministries at his church has been charged with molesting a family member. Michael Sasser, 40, was charged last month with forcible sexual penetration, continual sexual abuse of a child and lewd and lascivious acts with a child. According to the criminal complaint, the first …

Santa Barbara’s ABC affiliate reports: Former youth pastor Jeffery York, 53, at New Beginnings Community Church in Nipomo was arrested Wednesday for child molestation and sexual abuse over a three-year period, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. SLO Sheriff’s arrested the 53-year-old from Portland following an investigation into York for child molestation of a male victim in …