Meet Dave Reynolds. He’s the recently fired pastor of the Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Sherwood, Arkansas currently facing 70 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing child pornography.
He’s also vehemently antigay.
The 40-year-old pastor, who has preached that marriage is between a man and a woman and that all homosexual activity is a sin, was arrested this week after police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a social media account in Sherwood was storing pages and pages (and pages and pages) of images of kiddy porn.
The account allegedly belonged to Reynolds.
In March, Reynolds informed elders at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship that he was under investigation for child porn possession. When they asked if he had engaged in viewing the material, Reynolds told them he had “not knowingly done so.”
The elders ultimately decided to relieve Reynolds of his duties and put out a statement saying the church was fully cooperating with police.
“Our present concern is with the people of Cornerstone to whom the Lord has entrusted us as shepherds,” the church said in a statement. “We have been and will continue to pursue all avenues to determine whether any of Cornerstone’s people may have been directly or indirectly affected by any actions Dave may have taken.”
Meanwhile, Reynolds is maintaining his innocence. In a statement released earlier this week, his attorney, Blake Hendrix, said, “Mr. Reynolds has pleaded not guilty and intends to vigorously defend himself against the accusations.”
Reynolds appeared in Sherwood District Court on Wednesday. Bond was set at $250,000.
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