CATAWBA, Va. (BP) – Authorities say Jacob Barnett used various social media accounts to solicit sexually explicit material from underage girls across state lines while serving as youth pastor at Catawba Valley Baptist Church, leading to his arrest on Aug. 7.
Barnett, 34, was apprehended by FBI agents Aug. 6 in North Carolina and is being held at the Catawba County Detention Center in North Carolina without bond, according to media reports.
A May 18 tip led the FBI to investigate a TikTok account appearing to beling to a teen boy named “Jodie Johnson.” That individual had contacted a 15-year-old girl in Michigan and, after leading her to exchange phone numbers and days of persistent messaging, convinced her to send a sexually explicit video of herself…