LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune
By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on February 26, 2015
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.”
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