Lakeview Church Youth Minister Accused of "Indecent Behavior" with 14-year-old Girl

By Ken Daley
The Times-Picayune
February 26, 2015

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/02/lakeview_church_youth_minister.html

Lakeview's Jonathan Bailey, 33, was booked with indecent behavior with a juvenile after New Orleans police said a 14-year-old girl told of having an inappropriate relationship with the youth minister at First Baptist New Orleans church. (Photo courtesy of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office)

A youth minister at Lakeview's First Baptist New Orleans church was arrested this week after New Orleans police said a 14-year-old girl confirmed an illicit relationship with the 33-year-old married man.

Jonathan Bailey was booked with one count of indecent behavior with a juvenile, two weeks after being fired and escorted off church property. Bailey was arrested Monday (Feb. 23) at 9:30 a.m. at his home in the 200 block of West Brooks Street, punctuating a scandal that Senior Pastor David Crosby said has left him and his church "devastated."

"We do everything in our power to keep children safe in our ministry," Crosby said. "This is just a shock and a tremendous sadness to us."

Bailey, who had served as the church's youth minister for more than two years, "is no longer on staff," said Crosby, who fired the minister Feb. 9. "We had no red flags on him. We do criminal background checks on every staff member and volunteer who works with children. We try to be very careful."

Bailey's attorney, Townsend Myers, declined to comment on the case or his client.

According to Bailey's arrest report, a church administrator watched a building surveillance video recording that caught Bailey and the girl entering a church closet together around noon on Feb. 1, turning off the lights and closing the door. Later, the video showed them leaving the closet separately as other students walked the hallway looking for the girl, the police report said.

Church officials viewed the video, terminated Bailey's employment and contacted the girl's parents Feb. 9, then joined them in a meeting with NOPD Special Victims Section Detective Corey Lymous two days later in the church offices, at 5290 Canal Blvd.

According to the report, the girl told her parents that Bailey "kissed her and touched her inappropriately while in the closet," an incident that occurred while the girl was supposed to be attending a church activity. The report said the girl also told of two other instances of Bailey kissing and fondling her, including one during a church retreat in Biloxi, Miss.

The arrest report also detailed an interview the girl gave Feb. 10 at the Children's Advocacy Center. In that session, the police report said, the girl told her interviewer that she and Bailey were "in a relationship" and that he "loved her and she loved him." She told the interviewer that she and the youth minister often hugged, talked and exchanged text messages.

The police report said the two "frequently engaged in conversations via a covert third-party messaging application, which (Bailey) directed the child to immediately erase."

The report said the detective collected items the girl received as gifts from Bailey, including "clothes, pictures, candies and souvenirs." Lymous contacted Bailey last Friday to request a statement, but Bailey refused "under advisement of his attorney," according to the arrest report.

Crosby said he "could not speak to" whether Bailey is suspected of inappropriate contact with any church youth other than the 14-year-old girl.

"He is no longer on staff," Crosby said. "We are cooperating with the authorities on this, and I know that they're doing an investigation.

"I've had meetings with the youth, the parents, our staff and volunteers, and our deacons, seeking to keep them informed and helping them understand what this means. We love one another and support each other, and we're a family. We're going to seek to move forward, with the priority on the safety of our children and young people. Children's safety is our No. 1 priority in everything we do."

Crosby said he and church administrators also are evaluating whether changes are needed in staff hiring procedures in the wake of Bailey's arrest.

"We are talking about that and looking at it," he said. "We did our internal review of things and had some recommendations we're going through. We're going to be deliberate and comprehensive in our review of policies and procedures, and will be implementing anything that needs to be added."

Court records show Bailey is free after posting a $35,000 bond, with the next hearing in his case set for March 23. A magistrate commissioner required Bailey to sign a stay-away order barring contact with the girl and her family, and also scheduled Bailey for a court-ordered drug test next Monday afternoon.