A former youth pastor at a Michigan church is facing multiple felony charges, after allegedly soliciting sex online with someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy and then touching him inappropriately, authorities say.
los Livingston County Sheriff’s Department charged Matt Swider, 44, former youth pastor at Community Bible Church in Brighton, with one count of child sexually abusive activity. They also charged him with tampering with evidence, and multiple counts of using computers to commit a crime and distributing obscene matter to children.
The felonies each carry maximum sentences of two to 20 years or more in prison.
De acuerdo a un Mason Police Department case report, officers responded at 5 p.m. on Dec. 2, 2024, to the parking lot of a career and technical education center in Mason. There, the victim told police he was touched inappropriately by Swider. Because the victim was not an adult, an officer contacted his father. But the father did not give permission for police to continue speaking with his son, the report said.
Later that day, a Mason police officer met with Samuel Hall, who hosts a YouTube channel about catching a predator. The report states Hall told the officer he witnessed online interactions between Swider and the victim, as well as their brief in-person meeting at the education center.
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The report states that Hall said he and the alleged victim began communicating with Swider, known to them as “Marc,” in late November on Grindr, an app used primarily by gay and bisexual men. Hall said they led Swider to believe the victim was 16 years old but later told Swider the victim was 15. The age of consent in Michigan is 16.
The alleged victim and Hall reportedly set up a meeting for Dec. 2, but Hall told police Swider changed the location twice because he “got scared that the police were going to be there,” the report states. Hall said when he and the victim arrived at the education center, the victim walked to Swider’s vehicle, where Swider got out, hugged him, and touched him inappropriately.
The report states that Swider and the alleged victim got into Swider’s vehicle and that Swider started to drive away before letting the alleged victim out at the end of the parking lot.
Hall reportedly gave investigators sexually explicit messages and naked photos exchanged with Swider online.
Because the victim’s father didn’t want his son to speak with police, Mason Police closed the case, the report states. However, Mason Police Department Chief Matthew Shutes told TRR he contacted the Livingston County Sheriff within a day to “make him aware” of the matter.
The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation more than two weeks later, on Dec. 18, after Community Bible Church contacted them regarding potentially compromising photos on Swider’s computer, according to Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mike Nast.
Nast said Swider had told church leaders about the images, but the church was unable to recover them. So, the church reached out to the sheriff’s office for help.
Nast said Swider had cleared his computer of much of the alleged compromising photos. But police were able to use information discovered on cloud-based messaging apps and the victim’s cell phone to “piece together an investigation,” Nast said.
On Feb. 14, Swider was arraigned in Michigan’s 53rd District Court.
Nast said he is not aware of any physical or sexual involvement between Swider and any children or minors from Community Bible Church.
Swider’s attorney, Marcus Wilcox, declined to comment when reached by phone.
TRR contacted Community Bible and received an emailed declaración on Feb. 27 from the elders. It stated that law enforcement notified the church Dec. 9, 2024, of an investigation involving Swider, and that Swider’s employment ended the same day.
However, Mason Police Chief Shutes and Livingston Sheriff’s Lt. Nast said neither of their departments contacted the church.
Also, a church email to its congregation on Dec. 20 stated that the allegations that “surfaced on December 9, 2024” against Swider were “non-criminal.” The email added, “Law enforcement advised that they could not become involved given the nature of the allegations.”
TRR reached out to the church elders for clarification on the apparent contradictions but did not receive a response.
Nast told TRR that Community Bible Church fired Swider before the Livingston County detective interviewed him. He said Swider relocated to Montana after losing his job but returned to Michigan voluntarily after learning of the warrant for his arrest.
In the Dec. 20 email to the church, the elders said they “communicated extensively with youth leaders and parents of students in the ministry” and told the congregation about Swider’s resignation on Dec. 15. The church added that it also engaged an independent third-party law firm to assist with an external investigation.
In its February email to TRR, the elders stated, “At no time, in the past or present, has anyone come forward with any criminal, illegal or serious misconduct concerns involving CBC (Community Bible Church) or Mr. Swider. Law enforcement has informed us that the charges Mr. Swider faces are unrelated to his work at CBC and none of our past or current membership is involved.”
However, a couple who previously attended Community Bible told TRR they alerted the church to serious, but not criminal, concerns about Swider eight months prior to his resignation. Instead of investigating Swider, the church revoked the couple’s membership, they say.
Community Bible Church did not contest that it revoked the couple’s membership. But the church claims it promptly engaged an “external investigator to review the situation” raised by the Yurichs, but the investigator found “no evidence of misconduct.”
Community Bible also claims it had grounds to remove the couple due to “false accusations” and “gossip.”
Ann Marie Shambaugh has reported as a print journalist in multiple states, including currently in Carmel, Indiana.
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3 Responses
Community Bible also claims it had grounds to remove the couple due to “false accusations” and “gossip.”
Their behavior in trying to distance themselves from Swider and protect their image is so typical of so many Evangelical Churches today. What did they suspect and when did they suspect it?
As it turns out, our “false accusations” were extremely accurate. My husband asked for this man’s termination less than a year before he was caught having a 15-year-old male teen get in his car for the purpose of molesting him. Our entire family sent our concerns through private letters in the mail. That would be considered the opposite of gossip. It is truly disgusting and dangerous that these church “leaders” would say these things about our family.
Mrs. Yurich: Having read only this article and the other one here on March 6, I think you and your husband did everything right, biblically and legally. I also think Community Bible Church handled everything involving your family the wrong way, biblically and legally. And although nothing I think can change the stress and trauma you and your family, and especially your son, have been subjected to over the past couple years, I am willing to bet most, if not all, TRR readers feel the same way. Your son was 100% correct in his suspicions about that man. And when he brought those suspicions to you and your husband, you listened to him, believed him, and stood by him. Too many parents would have brushed off those sorts of concerns and, in effect, gaslite their child. If there is any enduring lesson here, it is that parents should always take their child’s concerns and suspicions seriously. You’ve set a good example for the rest of us, but I’m sorry you had to.