The pastor of a New Hampshire church has been removed from his duties after being charged with possession of child pornography, but conditions of his bail require that he continue living at the church.
Stephen Bates, 46, was arrested March 15 at Bible Baptist Church in Nashua, which is also his residence, and was charged with possession of child sexual abuse images, a felony, NBC 10 Boston reported.
A statement on the church’s website says he is no longer the pastor of the church but continues to live there for the time being.
Bates posted $3,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Hillsborough County Superior Court next week.
The church said its deacons had attempted to require Bates to vacate the premises after his arrest, but the conditions of his bail require that he continue to live at his current address. The statement said the church is requesting the bail conditions be amended.
Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Hurt and Healed by the Church” by Ryan George. To donate, click here.
“We are working diligently to address this matter and all things related to it as quickly as possible and ask for patience and grace as we deal with this most unexpected situation,” the statement said.
The investigation of Bates began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip in 2016 that child sexual abuse images had been accessed by an electronic device at the church. Police investigating both that tip and similar ones in 2017 said they did not find enough evidence to support criminal charges.
However, an IP address associated with the church later surfaced as part of a 2019 Homeland Security investigation into the production and distribution of child sex abuse images in Denver. A year later, one appeared as part of a Tallahassee, Florida, child porn case, and in 2021, a Blaine, Washington, investigation of social media communications about sexual contact with children was tied to an IP address at the Bible Baptist address.
Police executing a search warrant said Bates had two flash drives with numerous images of child sex abuse in his possession when he was arrested. Authorities said they had not identified any local victims.
The church’s statement condemned Bates’ actions, calling them, “ungodly, unholy, unnatural, perverted, and reprehensible.”
“We have worked with and will continue to support our local law enforcement in this matter and our wish is that justice be served,” the statement said. “Our hearts break for all his victims, and we sorrow with them for the hurt, pain, and irreparable damage he has caused.”
Although Bates currently faces one felony charge of possession of child sexual abuse images, police told NBC 10 they expect more charges will be filed after the digital evidence is analyzed.
This story originally appeared at MinistryWatch.
Anne Stych is a freelance writer, copy editor, proofreader and content manager covering science, technology, retail, and nonprofits. She writes for American City Business Journals’ BizWomen and MinistryWatch.
English 
Spanish
4 Responses
Why is this a national story? The church did its Biblical duty by removing the pastor. His residence at the church is not his decision, nor did the church sanction it. By publishing this, you just air more dirty laundry to reinforce the non-believer’s opinion that churches are full of perverts and their enablers. This man gave his church a bad name, and by amplifying it nationally, YOU give the wider Church a bad name.
Does transparency about evil that can, and certainly does, exist in churches warrant silence? As I see it, child molestations were at a horrendous level in the Catholic churches for years because transparency was NOT valued, and because it was not valued the exposures that did come to light were dealt with in-house quietly, supposedly not to harm the wider church, and look what happened. That “cure” for the problem caused, over time, and exacerbation of the problem that went on for decades until it got so bad that it was all but out of control.
Frankly, I want transparency in the churches. Full transparency. The problems that do exist already somewhat indicate a lack of checks and balances are often a part of the problem, and without openness and transparency there will be but very slow resolution of the ill as a whole. Reporting such as this is far from hurting the church as a whole, but rather helps make it stronger in my humble opinion. Thank you JRR!!!!
Joe Miller
Neither the author nor Julie are doing anything to give the church a bad name. This sick and abusive pastor did.
It sounds like the church wants him off the grounds, which is right and good. There is a serious deficiency in the law, that his bail requires him to stay on church grounds. That’s just wrong. Whoever set the bail conditions is acting foolishly and dangerously.
Also, Julie and Anne: I wish journalists would stop with the “child porn” nomenclature. It’s misleading and doesn’t rightly name the reality that such material is inherently abusive. See here: https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/2021/05/17/mandatory-reporting-what-journalists-get-wrong-when-they-cover-child-abuse-and-how-to-get-it-right/
Larry, how is it you ended up at this website and posted a comment? Are you online searching for dirty laundry? It seems that if you do not like hearing bad news then reading and posting comments on it would not be the thing to do to make it go away.