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#ChurchToo Investigations

Church Audio/Visual Contractor Charged with Criminal Solicitation of Intern

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A contractor who provided audio-visual services for Fort Worth area churches has been charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor after allegedly seeking sexual acts from a young woman he hired as an intern, the Tarrant County, Texas Sheriff’s Office said.

Investigators said Kenneth Tyler Hostin, 33, who was employed by Epic Resource Group of Dallas, displayed a pattern over several years of grooming interns then trying to get them to perform sexual acts, including intercourse, oral sex, masturbation, stripping and taking nude photographs, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Three of his suspected victims attended campuses of Compass Church, and at least one, the victim named in the affidavit, was a minor, officials said.

The underage girl began working with Hostin in June and told a church camp counselor on July 1 that he had asked her to perform sexual acts for him and provide him nude photos.

Investigators said Hostin had come under scrutiny in the past for sexual misconduct. Officials at Compass Church fired him in 2016 after a woman who was over 18 accused him of making sexual advances, but he was rehired after the victim left the area.

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The affidavit said another alleged victim had worked with Hostin doing light and sound for churches throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2019, and that after two months of working together, he started making inappropriate sexual comments.

He also used a text he saw on her phone about a personal matter to try to pressure her into having sex with him, officials said.

The underage victim said Hostin began making inappropriate comments soon after she began working with him and dared her to strip naked during a game of “truth or dare.” She also told detectives she believed Hostin was abusing another girl who worked for him.

Church officials said they have banned Hostin from all Compass campuses and that his employer has been notified.

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Anne Stych

Anne Stych is a writer in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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