Former Vineyard Church Youth Volunteer Sentenced to 125 Years to Life

Abuser’s youngest known victim was 6 years old. California elderly parole law will allow abuser parole after 20 years.

A former youth counselor at Vineyard Anaheim in California has been sentenced to 125 years to life for collecting and creating child pornography materials and molesting four girls between the years 2009 and 2014.

Todd Hartman / Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office

The sentencing follows a decade of investigations, including a failed federal case.

Todd Christian Hartman, 41, was a youth counselor at Vineyard Church in Anaheim (since renamed The Dwelling Place) when police arrested him for child pornography, according to a press release given by ICE in 2015.

In 2015, investigators found hundreds of child pornography images and videos in Hartman’s Newport Beach home. Federal agents arrested Hartman on child pornography charges, but the case collapsed after a judge ruled he was not informed of his Miranda rights at the time of his arrest.

The following year, Hartman’s contact with one victim’s family triggered a disclosure of molestation from one of the girls.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a public statement that in 2016, Hartman contacted the father of two of his victims and admitted to repeatedly molesting one of them after meeting through his volunteer work at the Anaheim Vineyard Church children’s ministry, starting when the girl was 6 years old.

Hartman was also convicted of molesting the girl’s younger sister and molesting a 14-year-old girl and 12-year-old girl at a sleepover in 2009.

According to the statement, Vineyard Church leadership changed Hartman’s responsibilities after they became concerned about him “repeatedly pulling children on to his lap.”

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MinistryWatch contacted the Dwelling Place to inquire about Vineyard’s handling of the employee’s concerns, including whether or not church leadership was informed. We have not yet heard back at the time of publication.

Vineyard Anaheim made headlines in April 2022 when its pastor, Alan Scott, announced the church would split from The Vineyard USA and become “the Dwelling Place.”

By the end of that year, nine former church members, including the widow of Vineyard’s late founder, John Wimber (Carol Wimber-Wong), filed a lawsuit against Scott, his wife Kathryn Scott, and other Dwelling Place leadership for fraud.

Carol Wimber-Wong spearheaded the suit, alleging the Scotts broke from Vineyard USA to gain control of $62 million in assets. The suit claimed the Scotts, who had led a Vineyard Church in Northern Ireland, initially showed no interest in the head pastor positions but renewed interest a few months after inquiring about the Anaheim church’s $55-million building and $7-million bank account.

On March 28, 2024, a judge ruled in favor of the Scotts and Dwelling Place defendants, writing that Wimber-Wong and the other plaintiffs “shall take nothing” and granted the defendants the right to seek an appropriate bill of costs from the plaintiffs, who have since filed an appeal.

Hartman’s lengthy sentence mandates 125 years of imprisonment, plus an additional four years and four months before he becomes eligible for parole.

However, under California’s elderly parole law, Hartman will be eligible for parole in 20 years. The law, enacted in January 2018 and modified in 2020, allows most convicted felons 50 years old or older who have served at least 20 years of their sentence to become eligible for parole.

The eligibility process includes an opportunity for survivors and their families to testify against their abuser. District Attorney Spitzer actively referred to the law as “reckless and disgraceful decisions to once again put the criminals before the victimized” and vowed to not leave the victim’s side.

“When he does come up for parole, we will do everything in our power as prosecutors to keep him behind bars, where he undoubtedly belongs.”

AUGUST 20, 2024 UPDATE: After publication of the original article on August 7, The Dwelling Place sent MinistryWatch this statement:

“We are grateful to the authorities for persevering for nearly a decade so that justice could be served. No child should ever be a victim of abuse. It grieves us. We take the safeguarding of our congregation seriously.  None of our current Pastoral staff were hired at this time, but we know our church cooperated with law enforcement from the beginning of this investigation and throughout the investigation as attested to in the June 2015 public statement issued by ICE available here: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-orange-county-church-youth-counselor-indicted-child-pornography-charges.  Also, according to our records, the church immediately sent a letter out to the parents in the congregation in 2015. That letter (which is pasted below) was direct, transparent, and clear. While this criminal was a volunteer at our church, we are relieved that, to our knowledge, there remains no indication that any of this criminal activity took place while any of the victims were under our care or on our premises. We also would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone reading this who may have been a victim of a crime to contact local law enforcement. We support every effort by law enforcement to prosecute these types of criminals to the fullest extent of the law.”

Dear Parents – 

This past Friday a former youth volunteer here at Vineyard Church of Anaheim by the name of Todd Hartman was arrested on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. Because the safety of students and children are of paramount importance, we wanted to make sure that we communicated with each of you concerning the nature of this circumstance.

In February of this year, we were approached by law enforcement authorities and asked to offer help and information on their investigation concerning Mr. Hartman.  Our understanding of the investigation and charges is that they are related to Mr. Hartman’s personal computer and activity in his home.  The lead detective has confirmed to the church that throughout the investigation there has been no indication of any incidents or allegations involving any children or youth here at the church or in relation with any church activity, event, service, etc. In addition there is no evidence of any inappropriate use of church computers or church property in connection with this matter.  At that time we were asked by the authorities not to communicate with anyone regarding this situation due to the nature of the ongoing investigation.   However, when we became aware of the investigation, Mr. Hartman was immediately removed from any volunteer capacity within the church community. We have and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities.

While our understanding of the nature of these charges is that they do not relate to Mr. Hartman’s volunteer capacity here at the church, we still recognize the unsettling nature of this matter, and of the topic in general. We wanted to assure you that within the Children and Youth Ministry we thoroughly vet, screen and complete a background check(including FBI and Department of Justice fingerprinting) on any and all people who serve in a volunteer capacity. We have systems in place that are specifically designed to reduce the risk of child endangerment.” 

Kind Regards,
Dwelling Place Anaheim.

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