Posted on 07/05/2024 1:21:55 AM PDT by Morgana
A Texas prosecutor says a former Southern Baptist youth pastor sexually abused children in a “violent way” and is a “danger to society.”
Luke Cunningham, 41, remains in the Lubbock County jail held on $500,000 bail on a complaint of sexually aggravated sexual assault and two counts of child sexual assault.
As reported earlier by The Roys Report (TRR) these accusations coincide with when Cunningham served as the student pastor at Turning Point Community Church in Lubbock from 2016 to 2020.
Cunningham has been at the center of a Lubbock Police Department investigation for sexual misconduct since 2021.
As first reported in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal an investigation indicates Cunningham’s destructive behavior goes back to at least 2013.
Prosecutor Cassie Graham told the court during a hearing on Monday, “He is clearly a danger to society.”
Police reports and statements from the teens detailing a pattern of violent sexual abuse were produced during the hearing, the paper reported.
Graham told the court that one girl accused Cunningham of slapping and choking her to unconsciousness while he raped her, the Avalanche-Journal reported.
Cunningham would allegedly “threaten any young man in the youth group” with romantic inclinations to the girls, the newspaper reported.
There were allegations of abuse from a potential third victim accusing Cunningham of throwing her against a vending machine and holding her down on the floor when she didn’t “give him the attention he wanted,” the paper reported.
A telephone message left for Graham was not returned.
Cunningham is accused of manipulating the girls saying he planned to leave his wife and be with them when they turned 18, according to testimony during Monday’s hearing.
One church worker submitted a statement saying Cunningham was told during a trip in New Mexico that it was inappropriate “to have 16-year-old girls sleeping in his lap.”
Photographs from mission trips showed Cunningham posing with the girls like he is in a romantic relationship, according to the Avalanche-Journal.
Other evidence included screenshots of messages Cunningham sent the girls asking them to minimize the inappropriate conduct with Cunningham instructing the girls they “made out a couple of times,” and that he touched their breasts once.
Cunningham’s past began to unravel in court after Det. Justin Ryan Wood with the Lubbock Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit told the court that during his investigation Cunningham left Fort Worth church in 2015 after refusing to abide by a church policy prohibiting unsupervised contact with youth.
After leaving the church Cunningham moved to Lubbock where he worked at Turning Point Community Church and Church on the Rock, according to the newspaper.
Cunningham was confronted by one girls’ parents in 2019 and told him if he left the ministry they would not report him.
That agreement was short lived. Cunningham and his family moved to Granbury where he worked as a youth pastor at Lakeside Baptist Church.
At the time of his arrest, Cunningham served as student minister at Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury.
A sexual abuse prevention training course at the Granbury church exposed Cunningham’s history of sexual misconduct. Church officials further investigated Cunningham and reached out to another teenager from Turning Point who also made an outcry that Cunningham sexually abused her in Lubbock.
He has since been fired from the church.
Cunningham’s attorney Michael King asked the court to reduce his bail to $100,000. Cunningham has been in police custody since his June 20 arrest.
A signed affidavit by Cunningham’s wife was submitted to the court stating they could only afford a $100,000 bail.
King also asked the court to allow Cunningham to have unsupervised contact with his own children and a Hood County CPS investigation found no evidence Cunningham abused his own children.
District Judge Douglas Freitag did not rule on Cunningham’s bond reduction request.
Tree, rope, etc.
CC
Horrific. Evil scumbag is still alive and we pay for his food and place to stay.
Indeed. Like I commented on a previous thread (because there’s ALWAYS more stories like this one popping up), it’s gotten to the point, where as soon as I read the phrase “Youth Pastor”, I know exactly what’s coming...
It never ends ... You’d think these so called religions could clean up their act but then again theyd have to want to.
Pedos go where the kids are. Regular guys will go for the good-paying jobs, but pedos will take low paying jobs if the job involves access to minors, particularly vulnerable minors.
It’s not just churches. It’s ANY organization with access to kids. Check out all the FR stories about public school teachers seducing minors.
** Check out all the FR stories about public school teachers seducing minors.**
Yeah, but according to some males here on FR, its ok if the boy is at least 14 and the teacher is ‘hot’ (and her marrital status is not important either).
Dummies
That’s gonna hurt a little….
….And it makes me cringe just thinking about it.
Most FReepers are “religious people.”
The highest rate of child sexual abuse is in public schools.
I oppose public schools, but would hardly lump “public school people “ as the problem as a whole.
The fact is that predators go where the prey is.
I know what that is! Used it on young calves. Dad used it on sheep tails.
That would come in handy in a pinch.
Sadly it often happens. One youth pastor said his main temptation came from teen girls throwing themselves at him.
Even adult pastors and bible teachers have to beware. Our pastor years ago would not allow himself to be alone in a room with a woman unless someone else was present.
I have read that Billy Graham always had someone check his rooms before going in as so many were trying to catch him in a compromising situation.
There are many who get a thrill seeing the fall of a popular pastor.
I’ve known a numb er of truly good youth pastors. But like teaching or providing day care, it IS a job that results in contact with the young and therefor will attract lying, twisted pedophiles.
But in 50 years as a Christian and mostly in the Southern Baptist Convention, I’ve never met or even heard locally of a youth pastor who was a pedophile.
Once again it’s the “youth pastor”.
*********
Exactly. The “youth pastor” model is an invitation to generational separation and youthful immaturity. Our Christian ancestors didn’t need to be lead by the immature when they were growing up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.