Former Florida pastor arrested for sexually molesting a minor woman for years

A former pastor with the Chets Creek Church, a sprawling multi-campus Southern Baptist megachurch in Florida, was lately arrested on fees of sexual molestation, lewd battery and illegal sexual exercise with a younger woman from the age of 12 till she turned 17.
As per native studies, the 38-year-old Jeffrey Bedwell served as a youth pastor on the Southside campus of Chets Creek Church. However, the Baptist Press, the official information service of the Southern Baptist Convention, named him because the campus pastor earlier than his firing in a 2018 report.
Bedwell is charged with 4 counts—transmission of supplies dangerous to minors, illegal sexual exercise, lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor between the age of 12 and 16, and lewd and lascivious sexual battery on a minor between the age of 12 and 16. He is held on the Duval County jail with a bond of $500,000.
Reportedly, Bedwell’s alleged crimes started in 2013 and led to 2018, when he was employed with the Chets Creek Church. Bedwell is accused of grooming a 12-year-old woman with textual content messages, images and sexual conversations, throughout which he additionally allegedly requested her to ship him inappropriate images. When she turned 14, lewd messages escalated into movies. It can be alleged that the Christian pastor allegedly had two sexual encounters with the woman when she was 14.
The arrest report of the previous pastor says he continued sexually molesting the sufferer at his dwelling and inside his automobile till she turned 17. He is predicted to reply the costs in opposition to him in a courtroom continuing scheduled on July 29.
Chets Creek Church distances itself from Jeffrey Bedwell following his arrest
Following his arrest, the Chets Creek Church issued an announcement, saying that it was shocked and devastated to study of the costs made in opposition to a former member of its employees. The church tried to dissociate itself from the pastor, scrubbing clear most of its affiliation with Bedwell from its web site and social media accounts.
“Jeff Bedwell’s employment with the church was terminated more than two years ago for issues unrelated to the current charges now made against him,” Senior Pastor Spike Hogan, who represented the Southern Baptist Church, mentioned in an announcement to The Christian Post Tuesday.
Hogan additional added that in his time on the church, Bedwell was “subjected to the same thorough vetting and background check” course of that’s completed for all leaders.
“There was not a smidgen of inkling about his criminal antecedents,” mentioned Hogan, including that if that they had discovered of it, they might have reported it to the regulation enforcement instantly. The senior pastor mentioned together with his arrest, the church would cooperate with the regulation enforcement in any means potential of their investigation.
It is value noting that Chets Creek Church refused to disclose details about Bedwell’s former position within the church. Hogan insisted that the church was taking steps to safe the security of individuals, however didn’t elaborate on the way it was being completed.
“The safety of our members and families remains a top priority for us. The trust that they place in Chets Creek is precious and something that we work to earn and maintain every day. To that end, we are also constantly looking for ways to make our church even safer. With God’s help and guidance, we will do just that,” Hogan mentioned.
Another Florida pastor arrested on fees of video voyeurism
In one other case, a Florida Panhandle church youth director who was already going through video voyeurism fees after a hidden digital camera was present in a toilet was arrested once more. David Nims, 37, was arrested on Friday final week for eight extra video voyeurism fees, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
It was the third such arrest on related fees in lower than two months for the youth director at Calvary Baptist Church in Pensacola. According to the studies, Nims mounted a digital camera in the bathroom and the movies captured via it confirmed individuals utilizing the restroom on the church.