Police Say Pastor Killed Wife, Having Affair With Underage Congregant in Youth Ministry
This and more news, including a cold case being solved where a pastor was murdered over 30 years ago. This week's news and intel roundup.
There is a guide at the bottom of this article detailing how church security should operate within the children’s ministry. I also have a video, below, on how to spot groomers in the children’s ministry. The guide is for paid subscribers, but I am making it free this week so we can all protect children at our church. If it wasn’t for paid subscribers, CWT couldn’t do what it does. Thank you.
INTELLIGENCE / TERRORISM
ISIS Targets Gen-Z Through Gaming and Social Media
A study summarized in this week’s NCTC Counterterrorism Digest details how ISIS is shaping its recruitment to reach young people through gaming platforms, social media, and encrypted messaging. According to the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, ISIS-influenced users build jihadist-themed avatars and stage simulated attacks in open-world games such as Roblox and Minecraft, and use first-person shooters and battle royale titles such as Call of Duty and Fortnite to display militant rhetoric. Recruiters run what analysts call a funnel strategy, drawing users in through mainstream platforms and steering them toward more extreme content before moving them onto encrypted apps such as Telegram, Signal, and Discord. The research found that teenage girls in Western countries were a primary target, and that recruiters blend jihadist material with Gen-Z memes, music, and trends to boost engagement and slip past content moderation. The UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate reports that children in Europe and North America now account for 42 percent of terror-related investigations, roughly triple the share since 2021. (ICCT, GNET, UN CTED, via NCTC Counterterrorism Digest)
🛡️ My thoughts: Please share this with your Youth Ministry leaders and parents at your church. You don’t want one of your kids to get radicalized and then return to your church. We also have a duty to protect our kids from this filth.
ISIS Online Networks Push Calls for Church Attacks
Following the May 18 shooting at a mosque in San Diego, ISIS-linked online and dark-web communities circulated retaliatory messaging that included calls for attacks on churches. Analysts describe these forums as real-time mobilization spaces where supporters with no formal tie to the group push one another toward lone-actor violence, operating separately from ISIS’s official propaganda channels. The same reporting notes that ISIS supporters are now posting AI-generated imagery on mainstream platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to keep the group’s messaging in circulation. Churches and other houses of worship were named among the targets in this online environment.
🛡️ My thoughts: We cannot let our guard down. Whenever ISIS makes calls like this, someone decides to try and make a move on a church. Most of the time, law enforcement has intercepted them and it is a short blurb in this section about an arrest. Sometimes, though, they have been successful and we have debriefs on those incidents here.
FBI Warns Drone Attacks Could Reach US Soft Targets
An FBI deputy director, Chris Raia, said this week that it is only a matter of time before the kind of drone attacks seen on overseas battlefields are attempted inside the United States. In an interview, he said investigators are working to keep pace with fast-moving technology that could let an operator hundreds or thousands of miles away pilot an aircraft at a target on US soil. The warning lands alongside the recently disrupted Washington, DC plot, in which suspects allegedly planned to fly explosives-laden drones at a crowded public event, and alongside ISIS messaging urging attacks on stadiums and fan zones during the World Cup. For teams responsible for large gatherings, the practical concern is airspace: knowing who to call about a drone over a crowd, and building counter-drone awareness into event planning rather than treating the sky as someone else’s problem. (Fox News)
🛡️ My thoughts: I have been warning you for years, but in the last few weeks, there have been a number of government releases to law enforcement about the drone threat. They know something, i’m sure. But you’ll never know. I am sure it has been in some plans that have been disrupted that haven’t made the news. Plan accordingly.
FBI Flags Improvised Incendiary and Explosive Devices at US Public Gatherings
The FBI has circulated a tactical report to law enforcement on a pattern of homemade incendiary and explosive devices being used in or near public gatherings, built from commonly available materials and often thrown from inside dense crowds. The bureau points to several recent cases, including the June 2025 attack on a Jewish group in Boulder, Colorado, where a man threw lit incendiary devices at demonstrators, and a March 2026 incident outside Gracie Mansion in New York City where two people charged as ISIS supporters tried and failed to set off explosive devices during clashing demonstrations. The report notes that loud reports from fireworks and similar devices can be mistaken for gunfire, and that devices which fail to function still pose a hazard until cleared. For teams working events, the takeaways are recognition and standoff: watch for people staging fuel containers, glass bottles, or large quantities of consumer fireworks near a crowd, and keep distance from any suspected device. (DOJ press releases, June 2025 and March 2026)
🛡️ My thoughts: There have been a number of these incidents, which were outlined in the FBI Tactical Report. We should anticipate this for churches, since it has happened to us more than once.
Iran-Linked Network Reported to Have Targeted US Synagogues
A June 25 analysis from the Soufan Center on the fallout from the Iran conflict reports that an Iranian front group known as HAYI has targeted Jewish and Israeli interests across the West, including reported plots against synagogues in Arizona, New York, and Los Angeles. The group is described as running its attacks through young petty criminals used as expendable local operatives, a pattern Western services have tied to incidents across Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. The same network has surfaced in recent North American reporting, including a foiled synagogue plot in the Netherlands and a Toronto gun-for-hire network linked to shootings at Jewish sites. Separately, intelligence reporting this week noted that the network’s alleged leader, an operative linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard named Mohammad al-Saadi, was extradited from Turkey to the United States after being charged over a campaign of at least 18 attacks on Jewish institutions in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and after he allegedly tried to recruit a man he believed was a Mexican drug-cartel operative, in fact an undercover FBI agent, to attack Jewish targets inside the United States. The brief frames this as part of Iran’s continued reliance on proxy and criminal networks to carry out attacks abroad regardless of how the current negotiations end.
🛡️ My thoughts: Hayi is becoming a problem. I do assess that they will strike a jew friendly Christian church. More than likely, it will be one with a high profile. Plan accordingly.
San Diego Man Indicted for Diverting Charity Funds to HAMAS
On June 17, the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego, with terrorism, sanctions evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statements tied to an effort to route charitable donations to HAMAS. According to the DOJ, Sabassi used social media, crowdfunding sites, and his charity to solicit donations worldwide on the claim that the money would aid people in Gaza, but investigators found that from December 2023 through February 2024 he raised about $600,000 and diverted roughly $116,000 to a HAMAS operative and $382,000 to a HAMAS-linked foundation. The indictment also alleges he posted an hour-long propaganda video of the October 7, 2023, HAMAS attack on Israel to several of his accounts. The charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent. The accompanying analysis notes that terrorist actors routinely abuse charities, crowdfunding, and membership fees to raise and move money. (DOJ, via NCTC Counterterrorism Digest)
🛡️ My thoughts: Iranian proxy networks are still a threat here in the US. There are a number of sympathizers here, including US citizens. With the end of the war, the threat did not go away.
VIOLENT CRIME
Pastor Charged with Felony Battery in Caught-on-Video Beating of Neighbor — Central, Louisiana
Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, was arrested June 23 and charged with one count of second-degree battery, a felony, by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office. According to arrest records, the 20-year-old victim, who lives across Hooper Road from the Church, shouted a profanity at Spell from his yard, and Spell then crossed the road onto the property and beat him, with surveillance and home-security video of the confrontation circulating widely. The footage shows the two men exchanging punches before Spell took the younger man to the ground and kept striking him, and the victim was treated at a hospital for his injuries. Spell posted a $25,000 bond and returned to lead services that night, and at a news conference the next day he said he acted to protect his family after the neighbor allegedly threatened them, though he offered no evidence of the threats and the Central police chief disputed his account of prior complaints. Spell, who drew national attention in 2020 for holding large services in defiance of COVID-19 gathering limits, is scheduled to appear in court September 15, and the charge remains an allegation pending trial.
🛡️ My thoughts: Watch my video where I show a video of the incident, along with my thoughts about how all of this could have been prevented.
Pastor Shot While Repairing Church Roof in 1996 — Arrest Made in Jeff Davis County, Georgia
On June 24, 2026, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged Zachary B. Harper, 47, of Hazlehurst, with felony murder and malice murder in the 1996 killing of Rev. James Hand. Hand, 54, was the pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Snipesville, and on June 1, 1996, Jeff Davis County sheriff’s deputies found his body with multiple gunshot wounds on the church roof, where he had been making repairs. The sheriff’s office requested GBI assistance at the time, and both agencies kept working the case over the next 30 years. The GBI said new information developed during the investigation led to the charges against Harper, who is already serving a life sentence at Jenkins Correctional Facility for a separate murder committed about six months after Hand was killed. The case remains active, and the file will go to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
🛡️ My thoughts: Cold cases like this are getting cleared at a rapid pace due to advancing technology in DNA evidence. I’m glad there is resolution to this case.
Former Youth Pastor Charged in Wife’s 2006 Cliff Death — Las Vegas, Nevada
On June 22, 2026, U.S. Marshals arrested David Vander Meer, 48, in Las Vegas on a warrant from the Washington County, Utah, Attorney’s Office, charging him with murder and insurance fraud in the 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette. Bernadette Vander Meer, 29, fell from Angels Landing in Zion National Park on August 22, 2006, while the couple was hiking before sunrise, and investigators ruled the death accidental at the time while noting the circumstances looked suspicious. The case was reopened after a tip, and the senior pastor of New Song Christian Church in Las Vegas, where Vander Meer had served as a youth pastor, told investigators he believed Vander Meer pushed her. According to the affidavit, Vander Meer was carrying on a yearslong sexual relationship with an underage member of his youth group at the time, had raised the couple’s life insurance shortly before the death, and collected more than $560,000 afterward. He worked most recently as a charter school counselor and a yoga instructor.
🛡️ My thoughts: Here we are again with someone from our staff preying on our youth. This whole case is disgusting. Please keep all involved in your prayers.
SEX CRIMES
Church Overseer Charged With Hidden-Camera Voyeurism — Fruitland Park, Florida
On June 19, 2026, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office arrested Charles Barton “Bart” Lucas, 59, of Fruitland Park, on five counts of video voyeurism, including one count involving a victim younger than 16. Investigators said the case began when an IT director at Lucas’s workplace found inappropriate images of adolescent girls and adult women on his company computer and reported them to the Leesburg Police Department. Detectives determined that videos showing girls changing clothes and using a restroom had been recorded by a concealed camera placed inside a bathroom and a baptismal changing area at Heritage Community Church, where Lucas was listed as an “overseer.” When investigators went back to examine the restroom, the cameras were no longer there. Lucas was booked into the Lake County Jail and later released on a $25,000 bond, the church’s pastor is cooperating, and detectives are working to identify additional victims, some shown in videos dating to the early 2000s.
🛡️ My thoughts: I mentioned in last week’s episode that many of these cases are perpetrated by staff. Well…. here you go. Look within first when you find a camera.
Church Security Guard Charged With Online Solicitation of a Minor — San Antonio, Texas
Christopher Forrest Eastin, 37, a security guard at Cornerstone Church in the Stone Oak area of San Antonio, was arrested June 15, 2026 on a charge of online solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony, following an investigation by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Human Exploitation Unit and the U.S. Secret Service. According to the arrest affidavit, an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl began messaging Eastin on June 11 on the app Hush, and he sent sexually explicit messages, asked to meet the next day, and expressed interest in both the decoy and a second agent posing as another 14-year-old. Investigators identified him after he sent live photos through Snapchat, one of which showed him in his security uniform bearing a “Cornerstone” badge, and the church confirmed he was a level 3 guard whose shifts aligned with the messages. Sheriff Javier Salazar had held a news conference seeking information and saying Eastin may have left town before he was taken into custody the same day. He was released the next day on a $75,000 bond and is awaiting indictment under court orders barring firearms and contact with minors.
Former Youth Pastor Arrested After Predator-Sting Investigation — East Palatka, Florida
Caleb Roberts, 26, a former volunteer youth pastor at Victory Church in East Palatka, was arrested June 24, 2026 in Hillsborough County on a warrant issued by the Palatka Police Department, which accuses him of traveling to meet a minor for sex. The case originated with Operation 17:2, a Christian nonprofit that runs predator stings, which says a decoy posing as a 14-year-old girl drew Roberts into explicit conversations and that he traveled to a drugstore on March 30 to meet her, where the group confronted him on camera in a video that later went viral. Palatka police said the group was not acting under their direction, so investigators built an independent case before seeking the warrant. Roberts’s father, who had recently become senior pastor at Victory Church, resigned along with his wife in April after the video circulated. The charge is an allegation pending court.
Two Pastors Charged in Child Exploitation Scheme — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
On June 23, 2026, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced charges against two pastors, Isaiah Banks, 30, and Bryan Jackson, 42, accusing them of sexually exploiting teenage boys and producing and trading child pornography over several years. Banks served as senior pastor of Second Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Francisville section of the city until resigning in April, and Jackson served as pastor of Garden of Prayer World’s Prayer Center in Strawberry Mansion. Prosecutors said the investigation began in April after a report that Banks had solicited explicit videos from a minor in exchange for money or food, and that evidence later showed Jackson posed as a female online to obtain images directly from victims. The charges include sexual abuse of children, sexual exploitation of children, conspiracy, corruption of minors, and unlawful contact with a minor. Banks was arrested June 3, both men were arraigned and released after posting bail of $600,000 and $100,000, and the District Attorney said the abuse came from their positions of trust and access to young people even though none of the alleged acts happened on church grounds.
🛡️ My thoughts: I’ll keep saying it… your pastor is more likely to molest a child than for you to have an active shooter. Which one are you concentrating on the most? Make sure we concentrate our precious training time on the events that are causing us more grievance. Not to say you ignore the rest, but most teams are not even training, let alone training to prevent sexual assault perpetrated by our own.
Church Youth Pastor Arrested on 18-Count Child Abuse Indictment — Clute, Texas
On June 24, 2026, the Lake Jackson Police Department arrested Adrian Gerard Johnson on an 18-count indictment alleging sexual offenses against children, and booked him into the Brazoria County Jail without bond. A Brazoria County grand jury had returned the indictment on June 18, charging Johnson with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual performance by a child, two counts of human trafficking, and single counts of compelling prostitution, indecency with a child by exposure, and an offense under the state’s bigamy statute. Court records say the offenses occurred between July 2015 and November 2020 and involved three victims, two of whom were under 14. Police said Johnson was employed at Destiny Church in Clute at the time of the incidents, and one family told ABC13 that Johnson was their daughter’s youth pastor at the church when he allegedly abused her over a period of years. The Lake Jackson Police Department is asking anyone who may be a victim to come forward.
Part-Time Pastor Charged With Child Molestation — Bellingham, Washington
On June 22, 2026, Antonio Carlos Segar, 68, was charged with first-degree child molestation in Whatcom County Superior Court. The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a sex crime involving a minor on May 28, interviewed Segar on June 21, and found probable cause to arrest him. Segar identified himself on his LinkedIn profile as a part-time pastor at Spring Creek Bible Church, where he delivered sermons and taught classes as recently as April 12, and recordings of those sermons and classes were removed from the church’s website after the charge. A church administrator told the Bellingham Herald that Segar does not currently work there and declined to say whether he had in the past. A court commissioner set his bail at $100,000.
ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES
Man Charged in Attempted Church Arson — Gate City, Virginia
On June 19, 2026, the Gate City Police Department arrested James Scott Davis in connection with an attempted arson at First Apostolic Church on Jackson Street. Officers had responded to a reported incident on June 13 involving damage and an attempted fire set at the church. The building was unoccupied at the time, and no injuries were reported. Davis was charged with arson of an unoccupied dwelling and vandalism, and was held on a $5,000 secured bond at Duffield Regional Jail. The incident remains under investigation.
🛡️ My thoughts: This is your weekly reminder that you need a fire alarm, a burglar alarm and a 4k video system.
Suspicious Fire Damages Vacant Former Church — Garfield Township, Michigan
Around 4:30 a.m. on June 20, 2026, fire crews responded to a blaze at a vacant former church, the former Harbor Light Christian Center, at 4050 Barnes Road in Garfield Township near Traverse City. Crews from multiple agencies extinguished the fire and kept it from spreading to nearby properties, and no injuries were reported, but the building sustained extensive damage and was deemed uninhabitable. The Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said investigators determined the fire to be suspicious in nature, and the sheriff’s detective bureau, Grand Traverse Metro fire investigators, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives opened a joint investigation. The building had reportedly been unoccupied for about a year. Investigators asked anyone with surveillance footage, dashcam video, or information to come forward.
INTERNATIONAL
Catholic Priest Shot Dead With Two Others — Kauda, Sudan
On June 19, 2026, Father Youhanna Al-Amin, parish priest of St. Vincent’s Parish in Kauda, in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, was shot and killed along with a parish watchman and a third person. According to Aid to the Church in Need, which cited local sources, armed men had entered the church compound the day before and demanded access to a medical storeroom, and the killing appears to have been retaliation after Father Youhanna reported the theft of medicines the church was safeguarding for the local population. He had served the parish for roughly three decades and chose to remain even as worsening violence forced other religious personnel to evacuate the region. Kauda is the main center of an area of the Nuba Mountains controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, which said it had no interest in killing the priest. The Diocese of El-Obeid and Catholic leaders in Sudan renewed calls to end the violence against civilians.
At Least 31 Christians Killed in Two Attacks — Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria
International Christian Concern reported that armed men killed at least 31 people in two separate assaults on rural Christian farming communities in Plateau and Kaduna states within one week. The deadlier attack came late on June 21 in the Kawel community of Mushere District, Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau state, where residents said gunmen opened fire on homes and a hospital and killed 22 people beginning around 11 p.m. Five days earlier, on June 16, armed men entered Ungwan Magaji village in Kamaru Chawai, Kauru Local Government Area, Kaduna state, killing nine residents, including several young children, and injuring at least 11 others. Both areas are predominantly Christian communities that have seen repeated violence over the past decade. Community leaders in both states called for an increased security presence to protect rural populations.
Thanks, Keith