Youth pastor Joel Huddleston arrested

Youth pastor Joel Huddleston was caught in bed with a 12-year-old girl. She was a student at Yearling Middle School. His soon to be ex-wife caught him and snapped a picture.

"His wife came home and could not find him and got in through a locked door into a bedroom area and discovered the young lady and he in the room. She (the girl) was in a state of undress and he was clothed. They were both on the bed, our understanding is both were asleep. His hands were upon the young lady," said Okeechobee County Sheriff Paul May.
Read more: Wife finds teacher husband in bed with 12-year-old

Shoot – this youth pastor is going to do some hard time.

Huddleston was the youth pastor at Buckhead Ridge Christian Church. A quick check of the website show that there is no statement addressing Huddleston’s arrest, and the pastoral team has been removed from the website. It is your typical “head in the sand” approach to the crisis.

It’s interesting to note how the press handled this case. They either emphasized that he was a youth pastor or they bury it in the story in favor of emphasizing that he was a teacher. Is it more important that he was a teacher caught molesting one of his students or a pastor with screwed up morals?

• Former Pastor and middle school teacher caught with 12-year-old girl.
  
• Teacher Arrested, accused of child molestation
  
• Okeechobee Middle School Teacher, Coach Molested Child

There is also a story at Editorials from Hell that says Huddleston was a Promise Keeper. I’m pretty sure they have a chapter of that organization in the Florida State Prison system. A police officer once told me that he always knew he had a DUI arrest coming if he pulled a car over that sported a AA bumper sticker. I think the same holds true for Promise Keepers. Arrest a child molesting pastor who claims to be in the Promise Keepers and you’ve got the real thing.

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