NEWLAND (NC)
ChurchLeaders [Colorado Springs CO]
October 18, 2024
By Dale Chamberlain
A North Carolina pastor has been arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor following a two-month investigation. Timothy Charles Rupard, 44, believed that he was communicating online with a 16-year-old girl.
Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.
Rupard is pastor of Temple Baptist Church, an independent KJV-only Baptist congregation in Newland, North Carolina.
According to WCYB, an investigator received a message in August from Rupard on an undercover social media account. In the message, Rupard, who reportedly utilized the fake username “David Eller,” allegedly solicited sex from a 16-year-old girl.
The account received more messages of a similar nature through September. In October, the investigator obtained a search warrant and determined that the account belonged to Rupard.
“Rupard had been in consistent communication with what he believed to be a sixteen-year-old female,” the Elizabethton Police Department in Elizabethton, Tennessee, said in a release. “Throughout these conversations, Rupard had repeatedly expressed his desire to engage in sexual acts with the minor female.”
When Rupard expressed his desire to see the girl, adding that he was willing to drive to her home, police set up an operation to arrest him. The “girl” told Rupard that she was on fall break from school and that her mother would be working during the day.
In addition to expressing his desire to engage in sex acts with the minor, Rupard also said that he would bring THC vape pens so that the two could get high together.
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On Oct. 11, Rupard messaged the girl saying that he was en route to the her location at an apartment complex in Elizabethton, sending pictures of a road accident that resulted in him being stuck in traffic. He also spoke with someone he believed was the girl twice on the phone via the David Eller social media account.
Shortly before 3 p.m., Rupard messaged that he had arrived, at which point the arrest team moved in. Rupard initially attempted to flee before being apprehended.
In addition to being charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, Rupard faces charges of simple possession of a Schedule VI substance, stop sign violation, felony evading, unlawful passing vehicle in opposite direction on left, and reckless driving.
Rupard has been released from jail on a $38,000 bond. His next court date is set for Nov. 18.
ChurchLeaders has reached out to Temple Baptist Church for comment and will update this article in the event of a response.