A local youth pastor has been arrested on charges of sexual assault of a child. The pastor is 32 years old and the alleged victim is just 16. According to court documents, they met while he was working for the Community of Faith Church in Cypress. The Harris County Sheriff's Office says Chad Foster worked full time at the church as a youth minister. Investigators say he and the 16-year-old girl met at church.... Court documents show the teen says Foster pushed her to keep their relationship secret. She told investigators he said, "...how important it was for her not to tell anyone ... because of the age difference." But she told deputies she started to feel bad.
A judge sentenced Danbury minister and former youth counselor Troy Grant to 20 years in prison Wednesday, calling him a "classic pedophile" who preyed on society's must vulnerable members.... Grant, who was executive director of Pathways Danbury, a program for at-risk teenage boys and volunteered with several religious organizations as a youth counselor, identified boys who Assistant State's Attorney Sharmese Hodge called "the weakest of the weak," took them into his home, gave them money, cigarettes, liquor and other gifts, then demanded sexual favors. Until his arrest as the result of an investigation by Danbury police Youth Bureau Detective Rachel Halas in January 2010, Grant had been given virtually unlimited access to those boys by their parents, guardians, churches and even the courts, in hopes he could "save them from the streets."
An Alma youth pastor was arrested Thursday for sexually assaulting a child, police said. Officers arrested 35-year-old Mike Lenzini on Thursday afternoon and charged him with first degree sexual assault involving a minor.âThis is a very active investigation and weâll be able to tell you more information Monday,â Van Buren police spokesman Jonathan Wear said.
A former youth pastor at Heritage Christian Church has been charged with sexually molesting a boy under the age of 16. Nathan Donald Moore, 24, of Lone Oak Drive in south Fayette County is being held in jail without bond on six counts of felony child molestation, six counts of felony aggravated child molestation and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes.... The sheriffâs department is also looking into the possibility of whether there are any more victims, but as of Friday none had been identified, officials said. [According] to a document found online, Moore served as the âbasketball team chaplainâ for the Whitewater High School boys basketball team in 2009.
Barry Caudle, a youth minister at a McHenry County church, went online in an attempt to solicit a 14-year-old girl for sex in the Quad Cities, state prosecutors claim. The Attorney Generalâs office on Tuesday announced the arrest of Caudle, 39, during the execution of a warrant at the Marengo First Assembly of God at 22817 W. Grant Hwy. in Marengo. Caudle, a youth minister at the church, was charged in Rock Island County Court with three counts of indecent solicitation of a child and one count each of grooming and unlawful luring of a minor, all felonies.... The case originated with a Rock Island police officer posing undercover online as a 14-year-old girl, whom Caudle solicited for sex acts, believing her to be an underage girl, the release said.
And a couple of bonus YPW headlines:
Disney worker, youth pastor and 48 others charged Operation SpiderWeb sex sting
Report: Youth pastor busted in sex sting is not church's first leader arrested
The other "leader" arrested at the same church where the youth pastor just got bustedâthat would Eastland Baptist Church in Orlando, Floridaâwas a Sunday school teacher who was "sentenced to six years in prison for lewd and lascivious acts and voyeurism against a minor in 2009."
Remember: there's no morality without religion.
