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Lutheran Pastor Arrested in Godfrey, Charged with Distributing Child Pornography

RiverBender.com
July 1, 2020

https://www.riverbender.com/articles/details/lutheran-pastor-arrested-in-godfrey-charged-with-distributing-child-pornography-42872.cfm

EAST ST. LOUIS - The U.S. District Court - Southern District of Illinois - on Wednesday announced a federal criminal complaint was filed late on Friday, June 19, 2020, against a Madison County pastor, Steven P. Tibbetts, 61, for one count of knowingly distributing child pornography in December 2019. At the time the complaint was filed, Tibbetts was employed as the head pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Godfrey.

Tibbets' attorney, Bill Lucco, told prosecutors this afternoon that on account of the charge pending against him, Tibbetts has been “released of all duties, pastoral or otherwise, at Resurrection Lutheran."

The complaint said the investigation of Tibbetts began in August 2019 when the photo-sharing website, Tumblr, provided a cyber tip line report about one of its user accounts to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The account was searched by law enforcement and allegedly found to contain images and videos of nude minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The complaint alleges that NCMEC also received a tip from Twitter in February 2020 that one of its users had uploaded two images of suspected child pornography.

Investigators were allegedly able to trace the Tumblr and Twitter accounts back to Tibbetts’ home, where a federal search warrant was executed on June 18. An initial review of Tibbetts’ computer allegedly revealed the presence of additional child pornography images and videos, and agents subsequently arrested Tibbetts at his home without incident.

Wednesday afternoon, Tibbetts made his initial appearance at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis. After holding a preliminary hearing, United States Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty found probable cause to support the complaint and ordered Tibbetts to be placed on electronic monitoring and released on a $10,000 unsecured bond pending trial. A trial date has not been set.

Distributing child pornography over the internet is a federal crime that as a first offense carries a maximum punishment of 5-20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release.

A complaint is merely a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the FBI. Significant assistance was provided in the early stages of the investigation by the Peoria (Illinois) Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Hoell is prosecuting the case.

 

 

 

 

 




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