Jon Sheptock, a Christian musician and former worship minister at a Texas Baptist Church, was arrested in late September on charges of possession and production of child pornography.
As reported by ABC 13, the arrest came after his alleged victim testified that Sheptock stole a photo of her nine years ago, when she was 17. “After the defendant (Sheptock) sent the image of the victim, he told her that he wanted more explicit images of her,” reads the written testimony. “The defendant (Sheptock) then sent her a video depicting someone being physically assaulted, accompanied by a statement implying that he did not want that to happen to her.”
Court records also accuse Sheptock of showing the victim multiple nude photographs of adults and minors on his computer. The behavior allegedly continued as recently as last October, according to detectives, when Sheptock sent a text message with a nude photo of young girls to the alleged victim.
Several years before his arrest, according to The Independent, Sheptock sang the national anthem at a Donald Trump rally in January 2022 before posing for a photo with the now-president.
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According to the Baptist Press, Sheptock’s now-deleted website said he was born with no arms and one leg shorter than the other before becoming “a thriving Christian recording artist and speaker.” He and his wife have been married for 26 years and have three daughters.
Sheptock served as a worship minister at the First Montgomery Baptist Church, which confirmed in a statement that he has been arrested on “charges related to child pornography,” and that he was “immediately removed” from “all responsibilities at the church.”
“He did not have responsibilities overseeing children in the church or school except occasionally in a large group setting with other adults,” the church added. “At this point, we have no information that indicates any of the children in our care were involved, but we are taking every precaution to protect our kids and to maintain the integrity of our ministry.”
Montgomery County Constable Ryan Gable said in a statement that detectives from his Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Unit arrested Sheptock on September 26th at a women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas, where he had been providing ministry services to inmates.
If convicted, Sheptock faces between two and 20 years in prison.