A Texas worship leader has been arrested and charged with promotion of child sex abuse material (CSAM). Jon Sheptock, 49, has been removed from his position at First Montgomery Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation.
Editor’s note: This article contains information about child sex abuse that some readers might find disturbing and/or triggering.
Prior to his arrest, Sheptock was also a Christian recording artist who had used his story of being born without arms to inspire faith in others, including prison inmates.
RELATED: While Some Think Robert Morris’ Prison Term Is Too Short, a Texas Attorney Says It’s ‘Appropriate’
Sheptock was taken into custody on Sept. 26 following an investigation. According to ABC 13, he was ministering to inmates at a state women’s prison in Central Texas when he was arrested.
According to the victim, Sheptock’s abuse allegedly began nine years ago when she was 17 years old and a senior in high school. She told detectives that Sheptock stole a private photo of her by breaking into her iCloud account.
In the photo, the victim’s breasts were reportedly exposed, and she had reportedly sent the photo to her boyfriend.
“After the defendant (Sheptock) sent the image of the victim, he told her that he wanted more explicit images of her,” the affidavit said. “The defendant (Sheptock) then sent her a video depicting someone being physically assaulted, accompanied by a statement implying that he did not want that to happen to her.”
The victim alleged that Sheptock showed her multiple nude photographs of adults and young girls on his computer.
The victim told detectives that she had not previously come forward because she was worried about how her parents would react to her having taken a nude photo of herself considering her family’s strong Christian convictions.
Sheptock has been charged with one count of promotion of CSAM. More charges could be forthcoming. The investigation is ongoing.
In a statement posted to First Montgomery Baptist Church’s website on Sept. 27, Pastor Chris Gober said that Sheptock had been removed from his responsibilities at the church and clarified that Sheptock “did not have responsibilities overseeing children in the church or school except occasionally in a large group setting with other adults.”
.){kind=link}