HERNANDO (MS)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
October 31, 2025
By Liz Lykins
The case of Lindsey Whiteside, the one-time youth pastor at Getwell Church in Hernando, Mississippi, continues to roil her community after federal prosecutors filed an emergency motion Wednesday to keep her in jail.
The motion asks that the 26-year-old be detained without bail until trial on the grounds that Whiteside’s offenses are “crimes of violence and involve a minor victim.” Whiteside has pleaded guilty to sexual battery charges involving a minor child.
After receiving a light sentence with no jail time, the reaction in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where Hernando is the county seat, was fierce. News sites called Whiteside a “pastor predator.” And a group of parents in the DeSoto County School District kept their children home Oct. 22, protesting support letters that a school board member and some teachers submitted to a judge on Whiteside’s behalf.
Attorney calls state sentence illegal
Whiteside’s state sentence was also called an “absolute abomination” of a ruling by DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton, as The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.
Although Barton had sought a 30-year sentence, Whiteside received three years of house arrest and then seven years of court supervision. She was also ordered to register as a sex offender.
“It is not right,” Barton said. “This is the reason why people question whether our institutions actually serve victims. This is the wrong message. It is very, very difficult for a victim of a crime, especially a child, to come forward and then to have her voice silenced by a horrible, horrible sentence.”
On Oct. 16, Barton filed a motion to resentence Whiteside, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He said her current sentence is illegal, under Mississippi code 47-5-1003(1), which code prohibits offenders convicted of sex crimes from being placed within an intensive supervision program.
Then on Oct. 22, Whiteside was hauled into jail when an attorney from the Northern District of Mississippi indicted her on federal charges for crimes against that same victim. Whiteside was picked up by U.S. marshals and DeSoto County sheriff’s deputies, as explained at a press conference.
Federal prosecutors charged Whiteside with two counts of transportation of a minor across state lines for illicit sexual purposes and one count of enticement of a child, according to the indictment.
However, at a hearing on Oct. 28, Magistrate Judge Jane M. Virden granted Whiteside’s release on a $60,000 unsecured bond. She also stipulated home incarceration, GPS ankle monitoring, and no use of pornographic material, according to WMC Action News 5.
Prosecutors filed the emergency appeal, contending these conditions aren’t enough to protect the public from Whiteside, who also used to work as an assistant girls’ basketball coach at DeSoto Central High School.
“(She) excelled in grooming and manipulating others to commit heinous acts against a child,” the appeal said. It added that Whiteside is “a danger to the community by clear and convincing evidence.”
If the appeal is successful, Whiteside would be required to stay in jail until her December trial starts. No time frame has been given for when the court will rule on the emergency motion.
Whiteside fooled her family, church
Whiteside’s charges carry maximum fines of $250,000 and could land her in prison between 10 years to life, according to the indictment. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.
According to the federal indictment, Whiteside transported the minor in June and July 2024 to both Tennessee and Georgia in order to engage in sexual activity. She also coerced the minor using interstate commerce to engage in sexual activity.
In the emergency appeal, U.S. attorney Parker King elaborated on the trips Whiteside took with the minor, noting that the youth pastor isolated the victim and penetrated her orally and vaginally.
“Whiteside groomed the minor and her family over an extended period of time in order to gain their trust,” King wrote. “Once the grooming was complete, Whiteside was able to convince the family to allow Whiteside to take their minor child across state lines in order to sexually abuse her.”
King said that while Whiteside’s mother claims her daughter is not a danger to society, Whiteside fooled her own family and her church about her crimes.
“Whiteside leaned on her role within the church to gain access to the child,” King said. “The family of the victim had no idea this conduct was occurring, and Whiteside’s own mother had no idea this conduct was occurring.”
He added that Whiteside’s manipulations show she is a danger to the community and pointed the court to her previous conviction.
King also contended that the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ ankle monitor location data shows that Whiteside has violated her house arrest by visiting the home with a minor in another community.
King said Whiteside needs to be in jail because, “This is a limit of any GPS monitoring system. Officers watching those coordinates often do not know who lives in a house at which the GPS pings.”
60,000 texts between Whiteside and the victim
Desoto County Sheriff’s Deputy Miranda Fox testified against Whiteside during Wednesday’s hearing. Fox also urged the court to recognize the danger of the former youth pastor, according to WMC Action 5 News.
Fox, who worked directly on the state’s case, said she recovered more than 60,000 pages of text messages between Whiteside and the victim. She said some of these were sexual, but there were no explicit photos sent between the two.
Fox also said that Whiteside allegedly waved to the victim in a parking lot shortly before her state sentencing. The victim allegedly had to be hidden in a nearby store’s bathroom to avoid Whiteside.
Whiteside’s defense, though, argued that these supposed violations had never been brought up in court before.