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   Full List of Texas Pastors Charged With Abusing Children This Year   
   By Giulia Carbonaro On 12/9/22 at 9:51 AM EST   
      
      
   This year, at least 10 Texas pastors, former pastors and youth ministers   
   were arrested, charged or convicted for various allegations of sexual   
   abuse of children.   
      
   In November, 56-year-old David Lloyd Walther, a pastor for the Faith   
   Baptist Church in Round Rock, was arrested for the distribution, receipt,   
   transportation and possession of child pornography, as reported by the   
   Austin American-Statesman. Walther, who told the FBI that he had a   
   pornography addiction, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.   
      
   In the same month, a 31-year-old former student minister at the Champion   
   Forest Baptist Church in Harris County was sentenced to five years in   
   prison after pleading guilty to online sexual abuse of a child. Timothy   
   Jason Jeltema pleaded guilty on November 17 to four charges of online   
   sexual abuse of a minor—including one charge of indecency with a child—one   
   charge of sexual performance by a child and two counts of online   
   solicitation of a minor which were initially brought against him in 2018,   
   according to the Baptist Press.   
   Stock Image of A Pastor   
   A stock image of a pastor standing behind the pulpit in front of a   
   congregation. The Southern Baptist Church was shaken by the discovery of   
   widespread sexual abuse of children among its pastors, workers and   
   volunteers this year. iStock / Getty Images   
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   In July, 48-year-old Chad Michael Rider, of Anna, was convicted in the   
   Eastern District of Texas for assisting former Denison pastor David   
   Pettigrew produce child pornography. According to documents and testimony   
   at the trial, Rider helped Pettigrew convince minors into taking sexually   
   explicit photographs. He was found guilty of three counts of the sexual   
   exploitation of children.   
      
   In the same month, pastor William C. Robinson, who at the time was working   
   for Chi Alpha Campus Ministries in Corpus Christi, was charged with   
   continuous sexual abuse of a child, to which he pleaded not guilty.   
      
   Also in July, Brian Pounds, a 45-year-old minister at First Assembly of   
   God in Vernon, North Texas, was charged with sexual assault of a child and   
   delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, according to Vernon police.   
   Pounds denied having had sexual contact with the child, but the girl   
   testified to the many times the minister had performed sex acts with her   
   and given her meth.   
      
   Baytown pastor Lawrence Hopkins was arrested in late June with the charge   
   of soliciting a minor online, according to Montgomery District Attorney's   
   Office. The arrest of the 55-year-old associate pastor at Rollingbrook   
   Fellowship in Baytown was part of a multi-agency operation to capture   
   individuals who have been "actively seeking to sexually exploit children   
   via the internet in Montgomery County," authorities said.   
      
      
   Following the pastor's arrest, Rollingbrook Church sent a statement   
   acknowledging the case and declaring that Hopkins' employment at the   
   church had been "immediately terminated." The church thanked the   
   Montgomery County Sheriff's Department for "their efforts to protect our   
   children and pursue those who would seek to harm them" and announced they   
   were "cooperating fully with the authorities."   
      
   In April, the Nashville-based Southern Baptist news service Baptist Press   
   reported that youth pastor Conner Jesse Penny, 32, had been arrested on   
   three counts of sexual abuse related to a minor. According to the police   
   report, Penny, who was employed at the Inspiration Church, formerly known   
   as Mimosa Lane Baptist Church, in Mesquite at the time of the arrest, "had   
   sexual contact with a female under the age of 17 years of age on multiple   
   occasions between 2015 and 2018."   
      
   In March, pastor's son and Conroe church worship leader Jonathan Ryan   
   Ensey, 37, was found guilty of victimizing a congregant by committing   
   indecency with a child and online solicitation of a minor. He is serving   
   eight years in prison, as both sentences were served concurrently.   
      
   In January, Aaron Duane Shipman, the 44-year-old lead pastor at Bible   
   Baptist Church in Odessa, was charged with assaulting a teenage girl for   
   years, beginning when she was 16. The woman, who's currently 18, reported   
   the case to the Odessa Police Department. The church, upon hearing about   
   the arrest, issued a statement declaring that Shipman's contract had been   
   terminated.   
      
   In the same month, 61-year-old Houston-area pastor Conrad Estrada Valdez   
   was charged of sexual assault of a child between the ages of 14 and 17, as   
   reported by ABC. The case was brought forward in 2019 by a then-30-year-   
   old woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Valdez when she was 15.   
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   The cases reported so far are limited to the charges brought forward this   
   year, and to the state of Texas. By expanding the search further back in   
   time or beyond Texas' borders, the list would grow much longer than the   
   one compiled in this article.   
      
   In October, the North Texas megachurch Denton Bible Church released a 2019   
   investigation revealing that a former youth pastor sexually abused 14   
   girls at two different churches. The pastor, Rob Shiflet, was sentenced in   
   2021 to 33 months in federal prison for sexually assaulting two girls on   
   church youth trips, and is now registered as a sex offender.   
      
   On December 1, a former youth pastor at a Southern Baptist church in   
   Missouri was charged with six child abuse-related charges.   
      
   In May, a document released by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)   
   revealed the case of more than 700 Baptist leaders—including pastors,   
   teachers, ministers and volunteers—accused or found guilty of sexual abuse   
   of children.   
      
   The 205-page document, which looks at cases dating back to a period   
   between 2000 and 2009, details the arrests and—sometimes—sentencing of   
   Baptist leaders found guilty of sexual assaults, soliciting children,   
   child pornography and more.   
      
   According to SBC, the list is the result of an internal investigation by   
   Guidepost Solutions aimed at uncovering the cover-ups of cases of sexual   
   assaults which were allegedly kept quiet by the church's higher-ups.   
      
   "This list is being made public for the first time as an initial, but   
   important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and   
   implementing reform in the Convention," a statement by SBC read. "Each   
   entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought   
      
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