Johnson County pastor facing felony charges after investigation
A Bargersville pastor is facing felony charges for sexual conduct online with what he believed to be a minor.
According to court documents provided by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, a Johnson County deputy tasked with monitoring websites for possible criminal activity and entered into conversations in a chatroom called Bargersville Friends on an encrypted site. The deputy pretended online to be an underage teen girl.
Police say the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Nicholas P. Jackson, made contact with the deputy posing as the child in November, sent explicit photos, made attempts to contact what he believed to be a child, had sexual conversations and confirmed that he knew the persona was younger than 15 and in the eighth or ninth grade.
Police went to the church where Jackson is employed and he admitted to the conversations, as well as showing where he had taken explicit photos of himself but denied inappropriate conversations with juveniles at the church, police say. A search of a phone and tablet also revealed incriminating photos.
An arrest warrant was issued and on Tuesday, Jackson turned himself into the jail on preliminary felony charges of child solicitation, possession of child pornography and dissemination of material harmful to minors.