Free Republic

A 26-year-old former Iowa youth pastor was arrested Monday on allegations he sexually assaulted at least one student and gave alcohol to high schoolers, court documents show. Caleb Daniel Toney was booked into the Polk County Jail on several misdemeanor charges, including assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and giving alcohol to an underage person, his inmate record shows. Court and jail records show he bonded out of jail Tuesday evening. The charges stem from several incidents across Story and Polk counties, the criminal complaints indicate. First, Ames police accuse Toney in a criminal complaint of getting a 15-year-old...

A youth minister at a Stafford County church was indicted yesterday on charges that she had sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy. Jennifer Michelle Brennan, 36, of Spotsylvania was charged by a Stafford grand jury with 10 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and 10 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to court records and sources, Brennan met the boy through her position as youth minister at Saint Matthias United Methodist Church in Stafford. The boy's mother said that among other things, Brennan counseled her son and his girlfriend against premarital sex. An affidavit...

DANA POINT – Capo Beach Calvary Church's junior high ministry director was arrested at the church this morning on suspicion of having a "sexual relationship" with a teenage female enrolled in his program. Daniel J. Pedroza Jr., 28, of San Clemente will be charged with six felony counts, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said. "We received a child-abuse report from social services detailing that a minor female between the ages of 14 and 18 disclosed she had been engaged in a sexual relationship with her youth pastor," he said. Investigators arrested Pedroza at the Capistrano Beach church around...

Mansfield police have arrested John Picard, 40, a former youth pastor who had inappropriate sexual relationships with young girls beginning in 1992 while serving at Grace Brethren Church in Mansfield. Detective Jeff Shook says the investigation involving multiple victims has been on-again, off-again. However, recent leads could result in additional charges against Picard, who now lives in Springboro, near Dayton. Mansfield Police Lt. Allen Vandayburg says Picard is being held in the Warren County Jail, pending an extradition hearing this week. Vandayburg is hoping more victims will now feel safe enough to come forward. He says the police will try...

A former youth pastor was sentenced on Friday to six years- three years in prison and three years suspended- for his sexual involvement with a 14-year old girl. Keith Daniel Kiger, 31, of Winslow entered a negotiated plea of guilty to reduced charges of sexual indecency with a child before 4 th Judicial Circuit Judge William Storey. He was initially charged with second-degree sexual assault. Kiger was a youth minister at a church the victim had attended only a few times, so it would have been hard to prove he committed the act while being in a position of trust,...

AUGUSTA, Ga. --- A 14-year-old girl said she was molested by a 36-year-old man. Richmond County investigators said the man involved was her youth pastor at Bibleway Church of our Lord Jesus Christ Apostolic, on Grand Boulevard. Investigators said the 14-year-old girl and her youth pastor had a relationship that started a year and a half to two years ago. The incident report said they were alone together four different times. And there were three days of instant messaging back and forth. 5-7 pages to be exact, all filled with inappropriate conversation. "They were very sexual oriented. Showing the desires...