A former youth pastor has pleaded guilty to sex crimes against a 17-year-old girl and will face 24 years in prison.
Ryan Kelley McElrath, 40, was a youth pastor at Fellowship Bible Church, a non-denominational multisite church in Jackson, TN. McElrath, who has a wife and several children, was arrested after the girl’s father discovered their communications on her cellphone, which he then reported to authorities.
Police discovered that they exchanged more than 39,000 text messages, beginning when she was just 14 years old. The messages escalated over time from benign to explicit, including discussions about when and where to meet, ultimately resulting in sexual activity with her.
Because he was indicted in several different counties where the crimes occurred, McElrath faced multiple counts of Statutory Rape by an Authority Figure and Sexual Battery by an Authority Figure. He received a 10-year sentence in Gibson County and two 12-year sentences for his crimes in Madison and Gibson Counties, to be served consecutively, resulting in a 24-year prison sentence. He will have to serve his entire sentence and cannot apply for early release.
District Attorney General Jody Pickens said in a statement:
This defendant was in a position of leadership and authority in a place where children and parents have an expectation that the youth will be safe. McElrath violated the trust of the youth under his care, their parents, the leadership of the church, and the community as a whole..While no punishment can ever make up for what the minor victim in this case endured, I appreciate the firm stance Judge Atkins took in handing down this sentence. Our community is safer with this sexual predator being in prison for the next decades.
