Arkansas Pastor Arrested O 70 Counts Of Child Porn

Cornerstone pastor (now former pastor) in Arkansas arrested on 70 counts of child porn

Leslie Salzillo

After receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, former Sherwood pastor David G. Reynolds, 40, was arrested Tuesday and faces 70 counts of allegedly “distributing, possessing and/or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.” Curt Lanning with ArkansasMatters.com reports: 

In January, the Sherwood Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an Internet account in Sherwood had accessed an online social media account with multiple images of child porn stored in it. A subsequent investigation by detectives led to the former pastor, authorities said. 

The church “elders” of Cornerstone where Reynolds was a pastor, issued a statement. 

Our present concern is with the people of Cornerstone to whom the Lord has entrusted us as shepherds. 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. 

On March 7th, the elders of Cornerstone removed Dave Reynolds from all responsibility at Cornerstone. Dave had informed two of the elders that he was engaged in pornography and thought the elders might learn of this from another party, hence he decided to inform us of his involvement in this sin. Those two elders specifically asked Dave if he had viewed underage pornography, to which he replied that he had not knowingly done so. 

They added:

We are saddened that one who we trusted is accused of a crime and sin so significant and as defiling of humans as this. Yet we also remember that Dave denies any involvement in this crime and sin and, under the laws of Arkansas and the U.S., remains innocent until proven guilty. 

The original article states, “There is no evidence to indicate any local victims are among the sexually explicit photographs found in the social media account. “ Oh well, then. Whew, that’s a relief. And Dave Reynolds is “innocent until proven guilty?”  What the Cornerstone “elders” and local authorities failed to mention is that there are thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of children who are victims of child pornography. They are the ones who suffer, who are used/abused/raped and sometimes murdered within human trafficking rings and  the sex trade.

I am neither judge nor jury, and would not know the extent of Reynolds’s guilt. I do know there are millions out there just like him who are sick and addicted. Yes, I believe in forgiveness. I am also a concerned mother and citizen who demands tougher action, more arrests, more convictions and stronger sentencing for sex traffickers and sex-trade customers. The crime of human trafficking is a $150 billion business, second only to the world’s most lucrative crime of drug trafficking. Our country needs to fully acknowledge that the problem exists here in our own neighborhoods, as well as around the world. We can no longer turn our heads and wave it away because it’s “just too much to deal with right now.”  We have to deal with it. We have to. 

And there is hope. Much of human trafficking can be prevented through awareness and intervention. For information, visit/contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week. Or you can call 1-888-373-788 or text BeFree (233733).