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950: Conner ‘Jesse’ Penny

Child Indecency, Child Molestation, Child Rape

Conner ‘Jesse’ Penny was the youth pastor at Inspiration Church in Mesquite, Texas. Before that he worked as an aide in after-school program run by the Mesquite school district and as an aide at an elementary school. He has been accused by four children of continuous sexual abuse. They range in age from six to seventeen, though the abuse was when she was younger.

949: Gary Don Welch

Child Molestation, Child Rape

Gary Don Welch was a Baptist youth pastor at Northside Baptist Church in Corsicana, Texas. In 2012, he was arrested when a sixteen-year-old girl reported that he sexually assaulted her. She had confided in her aunt that Welch had been assaulting her since she was thirteen. He stepfather said he had been suspicious because Welch texted her all the time and even went to school to eat lunch with her. He told the pastor of his suspicions but was assured that it was only that Welch was kind and loving. He pulled the family out of the church/

948: Curtis Jene Smith

Child Molestation

Curtis Jene Smith was the choir director and lead youth Bible study at Waco Baptist Church in 2005, when he molested as twelve-year-old boy. The church put him in this position even though he had a 1991 conviction for molesting two children and another conviction in 2002 for failing to register as a sex offender. As a sex offender, he was prohibited from taking a job around children, but he lied to authorities and told him he worked as a night auditor at a hotel .

938: Jeffrey Dwain Taylor

Child Molestation, Child Rape

Jeff Taylor was a youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Stafford. A nineteen-year-old girl admitted to her employer that she had been sexually abused by Taylor since she was eleven. Her employer called the police, reporting Taylor’s abuse. They investigated and determined that the allegations were credible. They arrested Taylor who said he did it out of love.

937: Benjamin Damron

Child Molestation, Child Rape

Benjamin Damron was a youth pastor at different churches in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, a position he used to get close to young boys whom he sexually abused. He was arrested in November 2022. He was charged with nine counts of indecent liberties with a child and one count of sexual battery,

933: Wendel Nix

Child Molestation, Child Rape

Wendel Nix was the youth pastor at Aztec Bible Baptist Church. He was arrested in 2007 on charges that he raped a fourteen-year-old girl. He groomed her over time and then began sexually abusing her. He family talked her into going to the police and more charges were added as they interviewed her. It’s interesting how his job description changes.

932: Malo “Victor” Monteiro

Child Molestation, Child Rape, Grooming

Malo “Victor” Monteiro was youth pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar, California, and assistant pastor at Menifee Baptist Church in Menifee, California. He was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of molesting children over an eighteen-year period and charged with seven felony counts: intent to commit rape, mayhem or sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts with force on a child under 14, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, distributing harmful matter and sexual penetration by force.

931: Alexander Roesly

Solicitation of a Minor

Alexander Roesly was the youth pastor at Praise Chapel of Church God in Union City, Indiana. He sent messages to thirteen and fifteen-year-old girls asking if they wanted to be “friends with benefits.” The fifteen-year-old attended his church. He was charged with solicitation of a minor for the thirteen-year-old, but not the fifteen-year-old as he was nineteen at the time.

930: Shawn Fitzgerald

Child Sexual Abuse Material

Shawn Fitzgerald was the youth director at First United Methodist Church. He also was a high school teacher and soccer coach. A tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led investigators to him. They got a search warrant and arrested him when they found many images of child sexual abuse, including sexual abuse of infants. He was charged with over 400 counts of possessing CSAM.

929: Nicholas Kelley

Child Molestation, Child Rape, Sexual Battery

Nicholas Kelley was a youth pastor at New Bridges Church, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He sexually abused a fourteen=year=old girl. His crime was revealed when she had a nervous breakdown and hospitalized. That is when her parents learned of the “relationship.” He confessed to the church elders the next day that he had “inappropriate physical interactions” with her.