CBS 11
May 16, 2008
http://cbs11tv.com/local/Joe.Barron.Prestonwood.2.725773.html
BRYAN (CBS 11 News / AP) - A minister at one of the largest churches in North Texas was arrested in a sex sting operation in Bryan.
Police confirm that Joe Barron was taken into custody after driving more than three hours to have sex with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Barron serves as a minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. The 52-year-old is a senior minister who works with married adults at the church that has some 26,000 members. Barron had only been with the church for the past 18 months.
Friday morning Prestonwood Baptist Church Executive Pastor Mike Buster issued a statement saying: "We are disturbed and saddened by the reports we have heard and we are praying for the Barron family. We are fully cooperating with the police in their investigation."
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| Joe Barron, a minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, was arrested and charged with online solicitation of a minor. Photo by Texas Police Dept. |
Barron had chatted online for about two weeks with "the teenager," who was in reality a Bryan police officer. Officials say during the online communication Barron told "the girl" he wanted to have sex with her and asked her to skip school and meet with him.
Undercover officers arranged the meeting for Thursday morning. As police set up surveillance and prepared to arrest Barron, the man chatted online with the Bryan police officer on his phone as he drove more than three hours to meet "the girl."
According to police Barron didn't park where he said he would and there was some confusion about the type of car he was driving, but just before 11 a.m. an officer approached the car with his pistol drawn. The minister reportedly raised his hands in the air and surrendered to police.
When Barron's car was searched, police found 10 condoms folded inside a golf ball box and a computer camera that they believe he was going to give "the girl" as a gift.
Bryan police later traveled to Plano with a search warrant for Barron's home. There, officers seized a desktop computer, two laptops, computer disks and memory cards.
Residents in the Prestonwood Church area told CBS 11 News that they find the news shocking. "It's just very disappointing and it makes you, as a parent or a grandparent, worry about letting your children it puts a whole bad light on the whole church," said Plano resident Melba Taylor.
Neighbor Charles Elias said that Barron and his wife seemed like the perfect couple. "She helped her husband do the yard, and then they would sometimes sit in the front and read books in the shade of the tree on their bench."
"You can't even got and offer condolences to [Barron's wife] under a situation like that," Elias said. "You just don't know what to do, as a neighbor."
Church member Susan Lucido said, "It just goes to show that everybody's human." Barron's arrest is actually an answer to her prayers. "It's a sad thing, but it's also a huge blessing for the church," she said. "Two weeks ago, I prayed for protection for the church, and to expose anybody there that needed to be exposed. And it got exposed."
Barron is charged with online solicitation of sex with a minor. The crime is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Barron was released from the Brazos County Jail on Friday night on $7,000 bail. Police were unsure if he had an attorney.
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