2 Ohio Pastors Have Been Charged for Sex Crimes Against Children

The FBI’s Northwest Ohio Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted the investigation.

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Friday morning, FBI agents arrested Cordell Jenkins, 46, and Anthony Haynes, 37, for alleged sex trafficking of children. Both men reportedly appeared in U.S. District Court Friday before being booked in the Lucas County, Ohio jail. The charges stem from what appear to be three years of illegal activity involving at least one minor, who was 14-years-old at the time of the alleged acts.  

“The affidavit alleges that Haynes, along with a woman, engaged in sex acts on multiple occasions with a female teenager, including at a hotel on Alexis Road and the Bel Air Hotel, and paid her money to keep quiet about the encounters,” read a report by CBS affiliate WTOL. “Haynes is accused of introducing the teenager to other adults who also paid the girl to have sex. The affidavit names Jenkins as one of these adults.”

Jenkins is the founder and pastor at Abundant Life Ministries in Toledo, Ohio, and several of his sermons are still available via YouTube. Information obtained by CBS News confirms the FBI isn’t involving Abundant Life Ministries in the investigation. According to information provided to WTOL, Haynes rented a space from the University Bible Fellowship as the pastor of Greater Life Christian Center. He stopped using the property in 2016 after he reportedly stopped paying rent.

“Huge allegations,” neighbor Casey Johnson told WTOL. “And like I said they are nice people and it kind of comes as a surprise. And it’s such a good nice neighborhood.”

The official charges for both men are knowingly recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person under the age of 18. Jenkins and Haynes will be held without bond until an April 13 hearing.

Latest in Life