Baptist Youth Pastor Sentenced to 15 Years

Child victim was abused and filmed in pornographic videos

Austin Wray Perkins, a Georgia youth pastor, was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison for child molestation and possessing child sex abuse material. Perkins had invited a troubled child to live in his home then sexually molested the child and coached him on how to act in sex videos.

Perkins, 27, was a volunteer youth pastor at Grace Fellowship Baptist Church, a small Southern Baptist Convention congregation without a lead pastor in rural Cave Spring, north of Atlanta.

He was arrested in 2022 as part of a sting operation called “Operation Spring Cleaning” organized by the Secret Service Cyber Crimes Task Force alongside state and local law enforcement.

“We’re excited that we were able to rescue that child from that home” where he was being abused and filmed, said a police officer.

The child was alienated from his parents and lived with Perkins, who consumed child pornography and coached the child about how to act in porn movies he was making.

Perkins pleaded guilty in September to felony child molestation and one count of felony sexual exploitation of children and was sentenced last week. He could have faced 40 years in prison for these charges but will instead serve 15 years and spend 25 years in probation.

Floyd County Assistant District Attorney Leah Mayo in court said police had originally found about 20 images of child sexual abuse material in Perkin’s possession—but after a full sweep of his phones and other devices, it turned out to be hundreds. Mayo called it a “horrific, extensive, extremely exploitative and disturbing collection of child pornography.”

Perkins’ attorney Radford Bunker said that, according to a psychosexual evaluation given prior to sentencing, Perkins had been abused as a child, which was skewing his understanding of his actions. Bunker claimed Perkins has a “treatable condition.”

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After Perkins’ arrest, his mother claimed he was innocent. “This is my youngest child,” said Kelly Bishop. “This is my churchgoing child. This is my child that tries to help everybody…I don’t understand.”

Perkins’ guilty plea and sentencing were first reported by the Rome News-Tribune in Rome, GA.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Why does MinistryWatch report on sex crimes? These stories are tough to read and sometimes even tougher to report, but we think they are vital to our mission to bring transparency, accountability, and credibility to the evangelical church. To read more about why and how we report these stories, read “Why MinistryWatch Reports On Sex Crimes.” You can find that story here.