Rocky Goodwin, the lead pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Warren, Arkansas, has been arrested and charged with possessing child sex abuse material (CSAM) after a trove of images was found on his computer.
Goodwin, who is 86 years old and received an award in 2022 celebrating 60 years in the ministry, was arrested after a year-long investigation. According to the Kansa-City Star:
The investigation began in May 2023 when Microsoft informed officers that a suspected child porn image had been uploaded on a user’s computer into a reverse image search on Bing, according to an affidavit. Two similar images were uploaded months later, authorities said. Investigators learned all three reverse image searches contained child sexual abuse material, investigators said.
Officers executed a search warrant at Goodwin’s home in May 2024, seizing his laptop, according to the complaint. Files on the computer included .zip files with sexual labels, including one labeled with the words “12 year old girl,” authorities said…Goodwin has been charged with 10 counts of distributing, possessing, and viewing CSAM.
Update: Rocky Goodwin was recently found not guilty at trial after quick jury deliberation. The explanation that he had “little to no experience using computers” is perfectly plausible, and we are glad that he is not guilty of what he was charged with.
