[imagesource:news24]

In September 2017, news broke that a 27-year-old Common Ground Church pastor had been arrested.

The Rondebosch-based pastor had duped at least 50 teenage boys into sending explicit photographs of themselves to him, going as far as to blackmail some with threats of making their photos public.

Now, more than two years later, the ‘Porn Pastor’, as he has been dubbed, can finally be named.

That man above is Kent Locke, now 29, who pleaded guilty yesterday to 47 sex abuse charges. He received 15 years in jail, reports TimesLIVE, with five of those suspended.

The charges include sexual grooming of children, using a child for child pornography, encouraging, enabling, instructing or persuading a child to perform a sexual act, and possession of child pornography.

He has also been added to the sexual offenders’ register:

After boys sent Locke explicit photos, he threatened to post them online unless they sent him more revealing images.

In addition to boys from some of Common Ground’s nine congregations‚ Locke’s victims included pupils at a number of Cape Town boys’ schools, where he presented himself as a sports photographer and a church youth worker.

The Hawks and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an investigation after the parents of a boy found evidence of the exchanges on their 14-year-old son’s cellphone and alerted church leaders.

After initially being released on R1 000 bail, he was rearrested six months later on charges that included sexual grooming of teenagers while out on bail.

According to Common Ground senior pastor Ryan TerMorshuizen, Locke had been investigated two years prior to his initial arrest:

TerMorshuizen said he was investigated two years before his arrest when he sent a WhatsApp message to a teenager who had injured his genital area‚ requesting a photo.

“We immediately had him assessed by two therapists – one of whom we have on retainer – and we also asked for a report from an external forensic clinical psychologist‚” said the senior pastor. All had given Locke a clean bill of health.

The forensic psychologist’s report‚ seen by TimesLIVE‚ said: “It is my opinion that the incident … stems from inexperience and tendency to blur boundaries with subordinates. [The youth leader] seeks to establish himself as a friendly and approachable leader. I have no concerns regarding his capacity to deal with children or adolescents.”

Clearly, that report was woefully incorrect.

The parents of an affected boy said they were  “deeply impressed” with the work conducted by the police, adding that they were satisfied with a “just conclusion”.

TerMorshuizen said the church had taken a number of steps, including setting up a hotline, to deal with the problem going forward.

[source:timeslive]