A pervy youth pastor is accused of posing as a teenage boy to exchange nude photos with young girls — even while on the phone with his wife, according to court documents.
Jacob Ryan Barnett, a married dad known as Pastor Jake to churchgoers at the Catawba Valley Baptist Church in Virginia, “repeatedly asked” a 15-year-old girl last month for photos of her privates as he told her it’s “time for her to see her first d–k,” according to court documents.
“I don’t know if im readyyyy im only 15 and I barely know anything abt that whole topiccc,” the girl responded — just for the pastor to allegedly send her a nude photo of himself anyway.
Barnett, the 34-year-old father of a 2-year-old son, had messaged young girls on social media pretending to be a 17-year-old boy named “Jodie Johnson,” according to the complaint.
The mother of a different 15-year-old girl, “M.V.,” notified the FBI in May after she went through her daughter’s phone and found an explicit conversation between the teen and “Johnson,” in which the teen sent several nude photos and a video days earlier, according to the federal probable cause affidavit.
The mom searched “Johnson’s” number — and realized it belonged to “a grown man named Jacob Barnett,” the docs detailed.
On at least two occasions, Barnett spoke with that girl while talking to his wife.
On May 19, Barnett messaged the teen at 4:30 p.m., answered a call from his wife two minutes later — and then the victim sent the pastor several photos at 4:33 p.m. Barnett responded a minute later.
“In other words, within less than five minutes, Barnett messaged M.V., talked to his wife for a minute, and messaged M.V. again,” the affidavit states.
The following day, Barnett messaged the victim at 10:34 a.m., answered a call from his wife a minute later — and then the teen messaged Barnett while he was still talking to his wife, according to court documents.
Barnett messaged the other 15-year-old accuser over Snapchat in July, tellign her it was “was time to see her first d–k,” according to the affidavit. Despite her protests, he sent her a nude photo of himself.
She ultimately sent Barnett multiple photos of herself. Agents were unable to view them because they were either encrypted or deleted but determined they were nudes based on the sexual context of the conversation, authorities said.
Barnett was arrested in North Carolina on Wednesday and is charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
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