Minnesota Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Minnesota Public Radio reports:

A former youth pastor at a Duluth church was jailed Tuesday and charged with sexually abusing five teenage girls. St. Louis County prosecutors said that Jackson M. Gatlin, 35, assaulted the teens between 2007 and 2010 while he worked at Vineyard Church.

Gatlin is the son of former pastors Michael and Brenda Gatlin. The couple resigned earlier this year amid concerns that they failed to act. According to a timeline of the church’s response to the allegations, church leaders fired Jackson Gatlin in February for refusing to meet with private investigators whom the church had hired.

In another alleged incident, prosecutors said that in late 2007, Gatlin invited a 16-year-old girl to his parents’ house to watch football. He allegedly pinned the teen to a futon and forcibly penetrated her vagina with his fingers. After her mother found the teen barefoot in the street crying, the woman called Brenda Gatlin, who allegedly said “we know your daughter has issues,” and hung up the phone.

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Jackson Michael Gatlin, 35, former youth pastor at Duluth Vineyard Church, has been charged w 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct for assaulting 5 girls between 2007 and 2010. Prosecutors say the victims were between 11 & 16 years old.https://t.co/H5IBjab9LZ pic.twitter.com/gRYR7awp2E

— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) October 3, 2023