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	Ohio Teenagers Say They Had Sex with Tempe Youth Pastor By Megan Boehnke Arizona Republic October 7, 2009 http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2009/10/07/20091007cr-youthpastor1009.html Two teenagers in Ohio have come forward to claim they had sex with the same Tempe youth pastor who was arrested in early September on suspicion of sleeping with a 14-year-old girl from his church. Word that Joshua O'Bannion, 25, was arrested in Arizona eventually filtered back to his hometown church in Parma, Ohio, where his grandfather is the pastor and where O'Bannion spent time as a youth minister, said Detective David Sheridan, the officer handling the case in Parma. The two girls both came forward on Sept. 22, within hours of each other, though neither knew the other had said she had been involved with O'Bannion, said Sheridan. The girls did know each other. They were between 14 and 15 when the affairs were alleged to have occurred. One girl said an affair started in 2006, when O'Bannion was about 21, and the other said it happened as recently as last year, before he took the position at Church of Life Church in Tempe. "They were confused. It was like 'he's supposed to be my youth pastor but he's doing these things.' They were definitely upset,'" said Sheridan. "They felt like he betrayed their trust." O'Bannion grew up attending the First United Pentecostal Church in Parma, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb of about 85,000 people, and spent his childhood in a house on the church property where his grandfather lived, Sheridan said. He arrived in Arizona as an intern at the Christ Life Church in January. Another youth intern moved away shortly after that, leaving O'Bannion to lead the youth. When the school let out for the summer, the girl told police she and O'Bannion exchanged cell phone numbers, leading to text messages and then "sexting." That is, text messages with sexual connotations. Three different times the girl said she snuck out of her Chandler home to meet O'Bannion. She said he picked her up in his Ford Explorer, and they would drive somewhere to have sex in his SUV. In the police report, she said she felt pressured the first time, but eventually gave in. The teen said she began to feel guilty after the relationship cooled and reached out to the former intern who left. Over Facebook, she told him about her relationship with O'Bannion. The other intern called the Christ Life pastor and the girl's father. O'Bannion was arrested Sept. 9 by Chandler police at his Gilbert home and faces sexual-misconduct and sexual-abuse charges. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in Chandler. Sheridan said any court proceedings in Ohio would have to occur after the case in Arizona is resolved.
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