The DeSoto County District Attorney’s Office in Mississippi has filed a motion to resentence Lindsey Whiteside, a former youth pastor convicted of sexually assaulting a student, after two people who wrote letters supporting Whiteside revoked their support and reported being coerced.
Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex crimes that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.
Forty-nine people originally wrote letters in support of Whiteside in the run-up to her sentencing. Whiteside’s case has been controversial after she received three years of house arrest followed by seven years of supervised probation instead of jail time as part of a plea agreement.
Whiteside will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Whiteside formerly worked at the Hernando campus of Getwell Church as a student and outreach coordinator. She also formerly served as an assistant basketball coach at DeSoto Central High School.
Whiteside was first arrested in November 2024 after being accused of sexually assaulting an underaged girl between May 14, 2024, and Nov. 6, 2024. Whiteside was charged with one count of felony sexual battery of a minor.
The victim was a student at Getwell Church Hernando’s youth group. Whiteside is accused of grooming the student and sexually assaulting her on two separate church-related trips.
Following Whiteside’s arrest, she was terminated from her role at Getwell Church, and the church told ChurchLeaders that it had cooperated with authorities in the case.
DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton objected to Whiteside’s sentence of house arrest when it was handed down, as he had recommended Whiteside receive the maximum sentence of 30 years behind bars.
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“This sentence is an absolute abomination of justice,” Barton said at the time. “It is not right…This is the reason why people question whether our institutions actually serve victims.”
