A former Calvary Chapel pastor and speaker is serving jail time in Virginia on multiple charges related to child sexual abuse, records obtained by The Roys Report show.
A plea agreement shows that Douglas Phillip DeAndrea, former pastor of New Ground Church in Danville, was sentenced in May to 40 years in prison.
DeAndrea, 44, was arrested October 18, 2021, on seven felony charges of object sexual penetration and aggravated sexual battery, according to Mark Hollandsworth with the Montgomery County Jail. A grand jury indictment reveals the charges related to sexual abuse of a minor.
The plea agreement shows DeAndrea pleaded guilty to two of the charges and will be incarcerated for eight years. The other 32 years of the prison sentence were suspended. He was also ordered to serve 15 years’ probation, according to the plea agreement.
The other five charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
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Virginia Department of Corrections records show DeAndrea is currently incarcerated in the Western Virginia Regional Jail. He is set to be released on September 19, 2028.
It’s unclear when DeAndrea parted ways with his former church. But the church has recently rebranded to Calvary Chapel Danville and hired a new pastor in June.
Calvary Chapel Danville didn’t respond when The Roys Report reached out for comment on DeAndrea and to ask about the rebranding. But the old church website redirects to the new one, created in early May, and the New Ground page on Facebook no longer exists. The rebranded Facebook page was launched May 27, three days after DeAndrea’s plea agreement was accepted.
DeAndrea had pastored the small church since 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was also one of five featured speakers at a 2019 conference hosted by a Calvary Chapel church in North Carolina, and he occasionally filled in for midweek services at another Calvary Chapel in California. (A cached profile of DeAndrea shows he’s originally from California.)
Founded in 1965 by Chuck Smith, the Calvary Chapel movement’s flagship church drew 25,000 people each week at its height. But scandals and moral lapses have plagued the movement.
Several other Calvary Chapel pastors have been accused of sexual or financial misconduct, The Roys Report has previously reported. Last month, the pastor of a Calvary Chapel church in Wisconsin was arrested as part of a child sex trafficking sting.
Sarah Einselen is an award-winning writer and editor based in Texas.
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3 Responses
I believe churches need to do background checks on everyone they hire. That would help prevent these scandals and reduce the amount of Childs abuse and other criminal activity among clergy. These kinds of crime are doing serious damage to evangelical groups right now. The Southern Baptist conference worked hard to hide church leader’s crimes, with various sex crimes being prominent is the recent report made within the conference. With background checks those who choose to hire someone with a history of such criminality can no longer pretend they didn’t know what sort of risk they are releasing on the congregation. This crime is too common among clergy.
Totally sad that the church is in a down fall because of criminal activity such as this. All different types of people come to church and as a Youth Pastor myself we must be vigilant in the Church community. Broken people come to church for Spiritual reasons in their personal life. As a church goer we trust in the person to get the help they need in what ever their problem may be. Unfortunately evil creeps in and innocent people get affected by the devil’s ways. Keep the faith in Jesus Christ Perfect Love and prayers for all and move forward. This has been going on since the beginning of the age and the church will prevail in the things of God… Follow the law of the land and render forgiveness to the pitiful. This is a command and teaching of Holy Bible principles.
The real tragedy is here is the physical and psychological damage that this pervert has inflicted on his victims. He gets 8 years in jail while his victims have to deal with a lifetime of inner trauma.
He got off easy in my opinion.