A former youth minister from Anna has been locked up for the rest of his life after being convicted for producing child pornography at multiple locations, including at a church.

Federal investigators got onto the trail of 49-year old Chad Michael Rider of Anna while they were investigating a Denison man for child pornography offenses.

The Homeland Security agents were able to trace illicit videos back to the Denison Church of the Nazarene, where Rider was a youth minister.

There on a hard drive in the church, they found videos of Rider and the other man, identified as David Pettigrew, setting up cameras to film children who were bathing at the church. More videos were found of Rider recording children at two other residences.

“One of the sacred safe havens for children is the church and all it stands for.  Yet Rider and his conspirators purposefully used it as a lure…