Women come forward about inappropriate encounters with former youth pastor Pesnell

By Gary Hanner
Daily Home
December 18, 2015

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Two women who were in Brian Pesnell’s youth group at a church in Fultondale 15 years ago are speaking out on how he was inappropriate with them both when they were teenagers.

Pesnell, 40, of Amelia Circle in Moody, was arrested Dec. 16 on charges of child sex abuse. Pesnell turned himself in at the St. Clair County Jail in Pell City. He was later released on a $25,000 bond.

Both women asked to remain anonymous because Pesnell is out of jail and they fear he would harass them. To protect their identity, The Daily Home will refer to one as Riley and the other as Sarah.

Riley’s story

Now 31, Riley said back in 2000 at the age of 16, she attended Gateway Baptist Church in Fultondale and was in Pesnell’s youth group.

“He was inappropriate with me on several occasions. I informed my parents, and they allowed me to stop attending his youth program,” Riley said. “The first time it happened was when we were on a youth trip to Nashville.

“He met with all of us in a motel room. When he dismissed us, he asked me to stay behind. He told me how glad he was that I came on the trip, and then proceeded to hug me. It was a tight hug and he told me I smelled good.”

Riley said there were many times Pesnell would make flirtatious comments toward her.

“He would see me at church and tell me I looked sexy or that I was wearing a sexy outfit. I became distant toward him, and he became frustrated when I decided not to attend his youth group anymore.”

Riley said one day, Pesnell went too far when he decided to go to the nursery and get her 2-year-old niece.

“He brought her straight to me, and I went off on him,” Riley said. “I told him to never touch my niece again. That’s when my father told him the best thing he could do was to stay away from his family. Pesnell is nothing but a pervert. That is what all the girls call him.”

Riley said her experience with Pesnell is small compared to what other girls have gone through.

“He harassed one of my friends regularly, showing up at her school to join her at lunch and getting in the school via his youth pastor status,” Riley said. “Multiple girls in the church and the community made accusations about Pesnell, and he was asked to leave Gateway.”

Sarah’s story

Sarah attended Gateway Church and also the school there from kindergarten through eighth grade.

“As Pesnell got to know you, he became more aggressive,” she said. “At first, he would hold my hand while praying with me. Then he would rub my arm. Then he started rubbing my back and hair.

“It became where he was pressing himself up against me. He was always trying to put himself in position where he could be alone with you.”

Sarah said Pesnell came close to touching one of her breasts one time.

“He saw how nervous I became, and backed off,” Sarah said. “The worst time, however, was when I was 14.

“I knew what an erection was, and he came up from behind me, and I felt him (the erection) on my back. That’s when I went to the pastor and told him. The pastor told me he would handle it.”

Sarah said the next Sunday, Pesnell pulled her to the side and told her the pastor had talked with him.

“Pesnell told me he did not mean to make me uncomfortable,” she said. “Pesnell then put his hand on my knee, and said he wasn’t going anywhere. That was the last time I went to church there.”

Terri’s story

A third woman who was older and not in Pesnell’s youth group has been in contact with Pesnell just in the past year to 15 months. To protect her identity, The Daily Home will refer to this woman as Terri.

“He contacted me last year on social media,” she said. “He told me he was divorced and wanted to have dinner. I should have known something was not right from the very beginning because he sent me text messages after our dinner saying things like, ‘I could tell you really wanted to touch me.’ I noticed he was talking to other women via Facebook, so I called it off.”

Terri said Pesnell contacted her again earlier this year, and they went out a few times.

“I was in his home more than one time alone,” she said. “When we were alone in his home, he was very aggressive and made me feel very uncomfortable. He grabbed my butt and touched my breasts. He told me he needed a lot of sex.

“There is a lot of perversion in him. He is not a good guy. It is clear he wants to be with multiple women. Had I known about his previous offenses, I would have never been alone with him.”

From church to church

After Gateway, Pesnell became the youth pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Moody. Former Bethel Pastor Chris Burns said Pesnell served for about three or four years at the church until he had to ask Pesnell to leave around 2005 or 2006.

“I had people leaving the church because of what they perceived of Pesnell,” Burns said. “We never knew of him doing anything out of the way with our youth, but there was always that perception.

“I never had a parent or a young girl come to me and complain. I did the very best I could to protect the church. The perception became so much that I finally told him he needed to move on. I gave him a period of time to move on.”

In 2006, Pesnell became the associate pastor and youth minister at Munford Baptist Church. According to the current pastor at Munford, Jim Weathers, there was an incident involving Pesnell, and he was dismissed from the church July 23, 2010.

Riley said when Pesnell’s information was posted on the Crime Stoppers Most Wanted list in Birmingham, she shared the link, and other women came forward and commented how he had offended them when they were underage.

“I heard from females I don’t even know who also posted and shared how he offended them when they were under his youth group care,” she said. “When I saw so many girls come out on Facebook, I thought it is such a shame these churches failed to report. It may have prevented the last serious assaults from occurring.”

Previous case

In March 2011, Pesnell was indicted on charges of second-degree rape and second-degree sexual assault by a St. Clair County grand jury. Terri said had she known about the indictment, she would have never put herself in a dangerous situation.

According to the case file, Pesnell pleaded guilty to third-degree assault. He received a 12-month suspended sentence and was placed on 24-month unsupervised probation. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim in the case, and also ordered to pay court costs.

Sarah said she had not heard from Pesnell until about a month ago when he sent her a friend request on Facebook.

“I did accept it, because I wanted to know where he was and make sure he wasn’t a youth minister at a church somewhere,” she said. “I found out he was just attending Church of the Highlands.”

The Daily Home’s efforts to reach Pesnell by phone and through social media Friday were unsuccessful.

Pesnell’s arraignment date is scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 14 at the St. Clair County Courthouse in Pell City in Judge Phil Seay’s courtroom.