XPost: ucb.politics.progressive, chi.general, alt.hollywood   
   XPost: ca.politics   
   From: fag.daily@nytimes.com   
      
   The men come from any number of backgrounds and range from young   
   to old.   
      
   In the end, Pensacola police said, they were united by a common   
   goal: having sex with minors.   
      
   During a five-day stretch that ended Sunday, all 22 of the men —   
   including a pastor from a Florida church — were dragged down by   
   “Operation Undertow,” an Internet sting in which undercover   
   agents lured suspected child predators via computer to an   
   undisclosed Florida location, police said.   
      
   The men were snagged after they responded to ads for sex with   
   teenage males and females created by agents on “various   
   websites,” police said. Once the men initiated conversations   
   with investigators, police said, warrants were issued for their   
   arrest.   
      
   When the suspects showed up at the designated location, they   
   were taken into custody and charged with traveling to meet after   
   using a computer to lure a child.   
      
   Police called the effort “the largest multi-jurisdictional   
   Internet sting” since the department arrested 25 men during a   
   one-week-long sting in 2011.   
      
   “It is through the collaborating, partnering and building   
   relationships that we protect our children and make the Internet   
   a safer place,” Pensacola Police Chief David Alexander III said   
   in a statement. “This effort of arresting and prosecuting these   
   individuals helps to stop future abuse. This was five days of   
   hard work for our officers, dispatchers, support personnel and   
   personnel from other agencies, in addition to the planning of   
   this operation.”   
      
   The men who showed up at the home brought with them drugs, sex   
   toys and plans for illegal activity, police said. Four of the   
   men arrested traveled from nearby Alabama, police said. The   
   youngest suspect is 18 and the oldest — Alfred Foster of Mobile,   
   Ala. — is 71.   
      
   Police said Calvin James Pearson, 31, and David Oloms, 24, both   
   of Pensacola, arrived together to have sex with a 14-year-old   
   girl, according to NBC affiliate WXIA.   
      
   When investigators searched Oloms’s vehicle, they found “a   
   luggage bag full of various sex equipment, bondage and   
   sadomasochistic equipment,” the station reported, citing arrest   
   records.   
      
   Police said Bradly Davis Jones, 46, showed up at the residence   
   with methamphetamine and a glass smoking pipe, WXIA reported.   
      
   “I’m the only one who could potentially do anything illegal, but   
   I’m not ashamed of anything I do, and I’m willing to suffer any   
   consequences I deserve,” he wrote to undercover investigators   
   while he arranged his visit.   
      
   His alleged intention: To have sex with a 14-year-old girl.   
      
   Also arrested was David Donald Hoppenjan, 52, who has served as   
   senior pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Pace, just   
   outside Pensacola, since last year.   
      
   Police said Hoppenjan traveled to two locations in an effort to   
   have sex with a 14-year-old boy.   
      
   Hoppenjan spent nine years as executive pastor at Shalimar   
   United Methodist Church in Florida, according to AL.com. He also   
   served as the youth pastor at Wetumpka First United Methodist   
   Church in Alabama, AL.com reported.   
      
   The pastor’s biography has been scrubbed from the church’s   
   website, but screen shots of his profile reveal that Hoppenjan   
   has five children, grew up in Wisconsin and has a degree in   
   agriculture education with an emphasis on business.   
      
   “As a second-career pastor, I received my call to ministry in my   
   mid-30s,” he said in his church bio. “At that time, we moved   
   from Wetumpka, Ala., to Wilmore, Ky., where I graduated from   
   Asbury Theological Seminary in May 2006. I have served as   
   executive pastor at Shalimar UMC since January of 2006.   
      
   “Recently, I returned from Panajachel, Guatemala, where I worked   
   with the ministry of Porch de’Salomon. … This trip reinforced my   
   heart for missions and outreach and my desire to support the   
   work of missions from outside our back door to all around the   
   world. While in Shalimar, I was involved in YMCA, Covenant   
   Hospice, Children in Crisis, Habitat for Humanity, as well as   
   local schools as a parent, a volunteer and a church member   
   helping out in any way possible.”   
      
   The Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist   
   Church confirmed that Hoppenjan no longer works at First United   
   Methodist Church.   
      
   “As a church, we take any allegation of clergy misconduct very   
   seriously,” the Alabama-West Florida Conference said in a   
   written statement. “The United Methodist Church requires clergy   
   to live by the highest ethical and moral standards. Conduct that   
   violates these standards is a very serious matter and is not   
   tolerated.”   
      
   “The safety of all children in our communities is a priority,”   
   the statement added. “This is a painful and difficult situation   
   for members of the congregation that (Hoppenjan) served and we   
   will keep all of those affected in our prayers.”   
      
   Authorities said the Pensacola sting involved four sheriff’s   
   offices, six police departments and multiple state and federal   
   agencies — a collaborative effort that Pensacola Mayor Ashton   
   Hayward said “demonstrates the cooperative spirit needed to keep   
   our children safe.   
      
   “As a father, I am at ease knowing our law enforcement personnel   
   are successful in dealing with this issue.”   
      
   In announcing the results of the sting, the Pensacola Police   
   Department said on Facebook: “This post will not be   
   entertaining. It will not be funny, humorous, or elicit a slight   
   chuckle. This post will not be the one you read to your spouse   
   on the couch tonight. This post will concern you, trouble you,   
   and make you ask, ‘What is wrong with this world?'”   
      
   The department added: “These people are out there. You need to   
   watch your kids. Monitor their online behavior. You need to   
   snoop. Be the Parent.”   
      
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/09/16/fla-   
   child-sex-sting-nets-22-men-including-youth-pastor-who-   
   volunteered-in-schools/   
       
      
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