VA Youth Pastor Arrested for Posing as Teenage Boy to Solicit Photos of Minors
And lessons parents and churches can learn in protecting children online
A Virginia youth pastor has been arrested and accused of solicitation of sexual materials from minors.
Catawba Valley Baptist Church in Virginia (Video screenshot) / Insert of Jacob Barnett
Jacob Ryan Barnett, 34, was arrested by FBI agents in North Carolina on Wednesday, August 6. If convicted, Barnett faces a minimum of 10 years in prison with the possibility of life in prison.
Barnett is the youth pastor at Catawba Valley Baptist Church in Virginia. After his arrest, the church released a statement to WDBJ 7.
“We are deeply grieved by these allegations,” the church said. “Our prayers are with anyone who may have been impacted, and we ask the Lord for comfort, healing, and justice.”
Barnett is accused of grooming minors by contacting them through social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Discord. He allegedly used the fake identity of “Jodie Johnson” in conversations with a 15 year-old girl in Michigan. The youth pastor sent her nude pictures of himself while convincing her to send nude pictures and video of herself.
The investigation started after the victim’s mother discovered the communication after checking her daughter’s phone.
After being tipped off by the victim’s mother, FBI agents began investigating the TikTok account belonging to “Jodie Johnson” and found that the victim and “Johnson” had exchanged phone numbers. Investigators confirmed that the TikTok account and phone number both belonged to Barnett.
FBI agents noted that Barnett was following thousands of underage girls on TikTok. Their investigation also uncovered that Barnett was using other social media platforms like Snapchat and Discord to solicit sexually explicit material from other children while he continued to pose as a teenage boy.
Warning for parents
In response, the Department of Justice encourages parents to stay involved in the social media lives of their children. “Please, monitor their online activity, talk to them about the dangers that are out there, and let them know how to report folks who try to exploit them online.”
Some may view the mom’s actions as an invasion of privacy. Others see them as evidence of love and care.
Kathy Koch, founder and president of Celebrate Kids, told MinistryWatch that when parents step into their kids’ social media world, “they’re not intruding, they’re investing.”
“Curiosity communicates love,” she said. “Asking about a post or a friend online isn’t about control, it’s about connection. As parents when we walk into our children’s digital world — scrolling through their feeds, asking about the memes and DMs — we’re not just protecting them from danger; we’re reinforcing the foundation of trust.”
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For churches
There are also steps churches can take to help prevent ministry leaders from pursuing the same sort of sin as Barnett. Jeff Dalrymple, director of Abuse Prevention & Response for the Southern Baptist Convention, says it is a good idea for churches to provide internet and social media safeguards and accountability for church staff and ministry leaders.
“It is good practice to have filters on Wi-Fi and internet access on church grounds that blocks sites with inappropriate or explicit material,” Dalrymple says. “This takes the temptation off of the table completely when on the church campus.”
As far as digital accountability, Dalrymple says, “It is also good practice for a spouse or close accountability partner to have logins to access social media accounts so that direct messaging and ‘private’ saved posts are accessible to someone else. In general, apps with ‘disappearing messages’ like Snapchat should be avoided. If your speech is God-honoring, there should be no reason to communicate on a platform that erases messages after sending.”
The Department of Justice provided a sobering reminder. “The heinous crimes Barnett is charged with are what keep parents up at night,” it said. “Educating our kids and communities about the threats posed by faceless, online personas is crucial to maintaining their safety.”
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