Michael Paul Keech was a youth pastor at Saluda River Baptist Church in West Columbia, South Carolina. He began working there in 2019 and was fired in 2021 when a new pastor took over. Within two weeks of the new pastor taking over, Keech was fired. He said “there were some thing that were in the personnel file that I found to not being conducive of the personality and character of someone serving in the ministry. So we fired him.”
The pastor said they are fully cooperating with the police, but if the file contained information on predatory behavior, they did not inform police since he wasn’t arrested until the following year.
A family member noted signs of abuse in the victim and went to the police. Keech was arrested in October, 2022 for sexually abusing a child for two years. Bond was denied on the four charges against him.
- Lexington County Chronicle: Former West Columbia Youth Pastor Accused of Sexually Abusing Teen Boy
- Baptist Press: Former South Carolina youth pastor charged with criminal sexual conduct of minor
Columbia, South Carolina · Monday, October 24, 2022