Update on Cleveland church pastor arrested
UPDATES:
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — This week, Rick Sentell was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor for possessing child pornography.
Sentell is listed online as the pastor of the Cornerstone Church of God.
However, there is a different church now at this location.
The preacher of that church told News 12 that Sentell sold him the church building three years ago.
Currently, there is no Cornerstone Church of God campus in Cleveland, though their website is still active.
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) runs a nationwide hotline called Cybertip, designed to stop child exploitation.
NCMEC says their Cybertip program helps bust child predators, as they say they received 32 million reports of child sexual exploitation in 2022.
Of the process, they say, “Once NCMEC receives your report, we review the information you provided, and we check to see if you had anything additional to add. All reports are made available to law enforcement for their review and possible next steps.”
According to their church’s website, Sentell, listed as Senior Pastor Rick Sentell, is the lead pastor at Cornerstone Church of God.
The church on their website says they are located in Cleveland.
The church’s website links to audio and video recordings of his sermons.
We have reached out to the Cornerstone Church of God for comment but have not heard back.
NCMEC has advice on when to file a Cybertip if you suspect a child sexual abuse is happening.
They say to report when, “The majority of reports involve images or videos of child sex abuse, or adults having sexual conversations with children, but you should report any child sexual exploitation.”
To report these incidents and access their resources, click here.
EARLIER:
Richard Lee Sentell / Bradley County Jail
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — Cleveland Police say they got a lead from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of child sexual abuse material online.
Their detectives got a search warrant for Richard Sentell’s home.
They say their forensic analysis of his personal laptop found a “large amount of images depicting the sexual abuse of children.”
Sentell was indicted by the Bradley County Grand Jury for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor over 100 Images.
SEE ORIGINAL:
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — Richard Lee Sentell was arrested on Tuesday for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor with greater than a hundred images.
Sentell is the pastor at Cornerstone Church of God.
Bradley County officers arrested him on Capias Warrant which is generally issued to ensure a suspect will appear before a judge.
We are working today to get more details on the charges.
