JACKSONVILLE (FL)
First Coast News [Jacksonville, FL]
April 28, 2026
By Brock Hardesty
Joshua Trent, 42, was charged with two counts of sexual battery, as stated in an arrest report by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, following allegations of abuse.
A Jacksonville man who worked as the youth pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church nearly a decade ago was arrested on child sex crime charges from that time, according to court records and details in a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest report obtained by First Coast News.
Joshua Trent, 42, was arrested April 12 by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) for crimes dating back to 2016.
Investigators in the JSO arrest report say Trent and an unnamed victim first connected while attending church services at Hillcrest Baptist Church where he was employed as a youth pastor.
The victim told police in the report that Trent became a friend of the family and a father figure to the victim. They had started to have regular contact at church services, and it transitioned to text. Trent told the victim they were allowed to give him “attack hugs” where the hugs were given in surprise, investigators said.
Investigators say the hugs slowly acclimated the victim to being comfortable being touched by Trent in a way that appeared innocent at the time.
JSO said it was also revealed the victim and Trent would appear together regularly at Trent’s other job, Churchtrac, which is a church software company where investigators said he began abusing the victim in his office.
The victim also began to babysit Trent’s children and the report states whenever Trent could get the victim alone, he would abuse them.
The report also states that when the victim would protest or say no, Trent would threaten to harm himself with a handgun he carried in a backpack at all times. He would also threaten self-harm if the victim ever told anyone, according to the report.
The victim also told police Trent had access to all of their social media accounts and passwords and would control anyone messaging them and who they were friends with.
According to the report, the victim told police in 2021, Trent called the victim while they were at college to say that the police showed up at Churchtrac. Trent told the victim to get rid of a password-protected thumb drive that he had given the victim with love letters and explicit photos of him, the report states.
During that phone call, the report states Trent also told the victim that if the police ever reached out, then the victim should say that Trent never touched them. The victim told police that they told Trent they no longer wished to have contact with him.
A First Coast Crime Stoppers tip in January, 2026 led to police identifying the victim and the victim participated in the investigation where the two made contact through text message and a phone call and statements were able to be gathered from those interactions, investigators said.
Police also met with Thorton Tedder, the owner of Churchtrac, who recalled Trent’s employment and told police Trent was terminated in 2021 two weeks after two detectives came investigating Trent for a possible explicit image of a child that was tracked to a Churchtrac computer’s IP address, investigators said.
The report stated Tedder recalled seeing the victim with Trent at Churchtrac and that they had spent a lot of time in the office. Tedder told police that he did not personally observe any physical touching, but the relationship between Trent and the victim was “friendly” in a way that was not appropriate for a young juvenile and a man “double her age,” but did not question it at the time, investigators said.
On April 12, 2026, police arrested Trent and he was charged with two counts of sexual battery. He was released on April 22 after posting a $800,000 bail.
Hillcrest Baptist Church sent a statement to First Coast News:
“We are aware of the recent news regarding charges involving a former employee. The situation is deeply concerning and grieves our hearts.
First and foremost, our prayers and concern are with those affected. We are committed to supporting those involved with compassion, care, and respect for their privacy.
We take matters like this seriously. The individual is no longer associated with our church and has not been since 2018. We are fully cooperating with the authorities as they conduct their investigation, and we remain committed to integrity, safety, and accountability in our ministry.”