Warning: This deals with sensitive and disturbing information
The son of a prominent Indiana pastor has been sentenced to six years in prison for possessing ‘torture’-child pornography.
Jonathan Peternel is the son of Nathan Peternel, lead pastor at Life Church in Pendleton, IN. He was arrested late last year after a cyber tip came in that Peternel was sharing videos on Snapchat. According to WTHR13:
“Detectives got a search warrant for Jonathan Wesley Peternel’s Snapchat account, where detectives say more child sex abuse material was found, along with evidence that Peternel was sharing videos with others.
A search warrant on Peternel’s home led detectives to find more than 200 files of child sex abuse material, some of which included sadomasochistic child abuse, children who appeared to be drugged or intoxicated while being abused, violent child molestation and AI-generated photos of nude pregnant toddlers.”
Peternel read an apology in court, apologizing for his action, saying he was ashamed of his son, and shared that he was giving his life to Christ.
“I hate my sin that I’ve committed and I want to apologize to anyone who has fallen victim to this. I also want to apologize to my family, my friends and my church family for the stress and embarrassment I’ve caused you.
Last, to my mom and my dad, I’m sorry I put you through this humiliating situation you have been dishonored and your names have been dragged through the mud.”
Notably, however, is that investigators also found more than 50 videos on Peternel’s phone of his parents nude or engaged in sex acts. 24SightNews reports
Jonathan Peternel’s arrest on October 23rd touched off the scandal which has rocked Life Church, but it has been the discovery by police that Jonathan had more than 50 videos of his parents naked or having sex, reports of Nathan Peternel repeatedly demanding minors tell him about their sexual activity and efforts to stymie questions from congregants which have spurred a wave of departures, including two top pastors and dozens of families.
Nathan Peternel has admitted that he and his wife filmed themselves having sex and accused Jonathan of getting high and hacking into their password protected account…An official with the Indiana Assemblies of God had been investigating Nathan Peternel’s conduct, which could potentially result in a revocation of his credentials for possessing pornography.
