ROANOKE (VA)
WDBJ-TV, CBS-7 [Roanoke VA]
July 28, 2026
By Jeff Singer
A former youth pastor was sentenced for his involvement in a child sex crimes case in federal court Monday, July 27, 2026, according to court documents obtained by WDBJ7.
Jacob Ryan Barnett, who used to be a youth pastor at Catawba Valley Baptist Church, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Barnett was originally arrested by the FBI August 6, 2025, accused of soliciting sexual material from minors.
In early 2025, the FBI received a tip that Barnett had attempted to groom a 15-year-old girl living in Michigan. Investigators, in May, discovered the 15-year-old girl received a message that appeared to belong to a teen boy who called himself “Jodie Johnson”, court records said.
Court documents also said Barnett, posing as the fake teen boy, exchanged phone numbers with the girl. After a few days of persistent messaging, he convinced her to send him a sexually explicit video of herself.