A Florida church has removed its youth pastor, who pleaded guilty last year to exposing himself, shortly after The Roys Report (TRR) began inquiring about the man’s employment.
Austin W. Plappert, 26, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exposing his sexual organs in September 2022, Volusia County court records show. A police report obtained by TRR also reveals a similar incident in 2020.
In late October 2023, Plappert and his wife were employed as youth directors at Pentecostals of Deland (POD) near Daytona Beach, according to an archived screenshot of the church’s website.
On Oct. 24, TRR first reached out to POD Senior Pastor Glenn Hires via email to inquire about Plappert’s employment at the church and if there was a restoration process. Hires didn’t answer, but Plappert wrote back saying Hires had forwarded him the email.
Plappert told TRR in his email response that he became youth director in 2023. But he wrote that he wasn’t on staff at the church at the time of what he called an “isolated incident” in March 2022. In Florida, a first-time offense for this charge is a misdemeanor of the first degree. A second offense is a felony of the third degree.
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“This was an isolated incident, in which, with the support of my wife and my pastor, I received counciling (sic) for, both spiritual and professional,” he wrote. “When this incident occurred, we were in no position of staff or ministry. We only recently, in 2023, became youth directors at the church.”
Last Friday, TRR reached out to Hires again, through email, to ask about Plappert. Hires replied, “Austin Plappert has been removed from all duties, offices and opportunities related to the Pentecostals of Deland.”
Hires and his wife no longer appear on POD’s website.
Charge of exposure of sexual organs
TRR has obtained two police reports, involving Plappert—one from Feb. 21, 2020, and one from March 18, 2022.
Both reports state that Plappert drove up to a woman, or women, who were walking along a road. Then he masturbated in front of them, while still in the car.
In the 2020 incident, the woman decided not to press charges, the report states. However, in the March 2022 incident, the women involved decided to press charges.
On Sept. 21, 2022, Plappert was given a 12-month probation to include a “deviant public behavior” course, psycho-sexual and mental health treatment, and no contact with the victims, records show.
Additional records show his probation was completed on Sept. 20, 2023.
Plappert didn’t answer TRR’s inquiry, asking the specific date in 2023 when he became a youth director. TRR also emailed Hires to ask when Plappert was removed from his position at the church, but Hires did not respond.
But in April 2023, Plappert preached at the church and shared updates on the children’s ministry, according to the church’s YouTube channel.
“I’m in the first quarter of the year . . . we’ve seen nine students receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and 10 baptized in Jesus’ name,” he told the congregation. “There was a P7 club that was started at University High School, which had 24 students added as of a week ago.”
Plappert also preached in 2020 and in August 2022, POD’s YouTube channel shows.
In Plappert’s April 2023 sermon at POD, Plappert preached on the importance of truth and righteousness.
“Young person, if you don’t do anything else, get ahold of truth,” he preached. “The church wants to water down righteousness. These young people need to see there’s a difference in how we live. Be separate. Right living is important. Right living is necessary . . . We need purity in our thoughts. We do not need to underestimate what goes on up here.”
On March 5, 2022, about two weeks before his second indecent exposure incident. Plappert married his current wife, Holly Plappert, court records show. POD Senior Pastor Glenn Hires signed the marriage license.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
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7 Responses
I feel so sorry for the wife.
I wonder how many people at the church he showed his business to before they removed him?
I am sure the church leadership will pressure any victims in the church not to press charges (after all the guy is gone, out of sight, out of mind, not our problem (it is some other church’s now)). Can’t this “manogawd” busted for a felony and be put on a sex offender list, now can we?
I really struggle when I read stories like this.
I do not understand, even when acknowledging the potential depth of self-deceit, how a person with the in dwelling Holy Spirit can commit such heinous acts and then preach against them in the pulpit. How seared does your own conscience have to be to do this?
Maybe the gate that Jesus talked about is a lot narrower that I’ve thought. Maybe my initial assumption that the Spirit indwells a lot of these disgraced leaders is faulty. I don’t know.
Are there more wolves among the sheep than we are willing to recognize? Are there more tares jointly growing in the field than the wheat is able to identify? I just don’t know what to do with all these leaders who call themselves pastors and shepherds and then continue to grossly sin until they get caught. Then they seek to be re-platformed a short time after.
Where is their guilt, shame, and conviction? Where is our discernment and bravery, as we applaud their shallow “repentance” and flock to their efforts to rebrand themselves? Where is our love for Christ and his church and his holiness?
This is all greatly disturbing to me.
Tom, I think that you are right to question your initial assumption. The pulpits are full of imposters who have been drawn into “ministry” to be in close proximity to the vulnerable and prey on their innocence. They do not believe what they preach, it is simply a job that they do.
The church needs to wake up and recognize that not only are there abusers among us, as there are in any organization, but they are particularly drawn into church leadership. So it’s worse within the church than without, and because we haven’t recognized this, we are quick to offer grace and forgiveness, and then a path of redemption which let’s the cycle continue.
We can’t do that anymore.
Our churches need much higher levels of accountability, and to protect the congregation as sheep from the ravenous wolves.
What Julie is doing is so important to be shining a light into this darkness.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. There is so much truth in what you shared.
As someone that has been a victim to him at a way younger age, I was 13-14 when he was 15-16 and even inside our church he was causing a disturbance with his inappropriate highly sexual tendencies. He’s a disgusting being, he deserved this, and I only hope the Deland church isn’t like Souls Harbor church with urging victims to “sweep it under the rug” instead of coming forward. People like him are predators, he always has been.
The Pentecostals of Deland is a United Pentecostal Church in Florida and Pastor Glenn Hires is a licensed UPCI minister. Unfortunately, some UPCI ministers feel people like this should still be allowed to be leaders. The organization has had a number of sexual abuse related cases involving their ministers as well as church members. Too many cases have been mishandled and gone unreported.
The Roys Report previously reported on a father and son, both who had been licensed UPCI ministers, who were arrested and yet face multiple charges of sexual related crimes. Scott and Travis Huse’s cases are still awaiting trial.