An associate pastor at a church in Lancaster has been arrested for using social media to lure a 15-year-old boy into having sex with him.
Police say an associate pastor, Clarence Taylor, sent nude pictures of himself to the boy, among other things. Now the state attorney general’s office is reminding parents about internet safety.
“It’s very frightening, because usually we have cops, but not special agents,” explained Abby Rothermeo.
When Abby Rothermeo woke up Thursday morning, she was shocked to see her neighbor Clarence Taylor taken away in handcuffs. The 26-year-old, who moved into this Columbia apartment a few weeks ago with a woman and his two young children, was arrested for making sexual advanced towards a 15-year-old on social media.
“There’s a lot of kids on this block,” Rothermeo told us. “There are a lot of children. I have a one-year-old myself. There’s a lot of 15-year-olds that run around on this block.”
According to court papers, Taylor was an associate pastor at the Church of God in Christ in Lancaster. The pastor of the church went to police after parents complained that Taylor was making inappropriate comments to teenage boys in the congregation.
Police then assumed the role of one of the victims online. Eventually, Taylor sent a nude photo of himself and tried to proposition the teen for sex. He now faces up to 24 years in jail.
“I’ve never had this problem before. I’ve lived in Columbia my whole life,” Rothermeo stated. “It’s disgusting. It’s horrible. You wouldn’t think that somebody who lives five houses down from you would be doing that and you wouldn’t know.”
With the arrest of Taylor, the Attorney General would like to remind parents to continually check your child’s social media pages and talk to them about not sharing personal information online.