Former Rochester Youth Pastor Accused of Luring Teen for Sex

By David Andreatta
Democrat and Chronicle
August 13, 2012

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120813/NEWS01/308130030/Kris-Allan-Gowdy?odyssey=nav|head&nclick_check=1


An HIV-positive former youth pastor at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Rochester has been accused by Canadian authorities of luring what he believed was a teenage boy online for a sexual tryst.

Kris Allan Gowdy, 42, now a youth pastor with a church 40 miles east of Toronto, allegedly used the profile name "collegetoy2003" in various Internet chat rooms and befriended an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old boy, according to Durham Regional Police.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Nancy Van Rooy said investigators apprehended Gowdy at a pre-arranged meeting spot last Thursday and charged him with luring a child via computer and attempted aggravated sexual assault. Gowdy is in custody and will face a bail hearing later this week.

Van Rooy said investigators suspect there are underage victims. She said Gowdy lived in Rochester from 2003 to 2005, but that there was no evidence that he was visiting Internet chat rooms at that time.

"He's all over chat rooms and social media," Van Rooy said. "He's quite narcissistic. He's out there and has been for some time."

The pastor at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Rochester said Gowdy worked at the church for two years but could not recall a specific date. Democrat and Chronicle archives show that Gowdy was the youth pastor in 2003 and 2004 and spearheaded the opening of a church coffeehouse.

New Hope Pastor Michael Traylor, who joined New Hope in 2008, said he learned of the arrest on Saturday and that his church has begun interviewing people who were in Gowdy's ministry at the time to determine whether any inappropriate encounters may have occurred.

Thus far, Traylor said, those interviewed have revealed only fondness for Gowdy.

"The feedback is incredibly positive," Traylor said. "We've talked to some of the people who were youths at the time as well as parents, and no one has a negative thing to say about him.

"It's sort of blowing people away."

Van Rooy said police confirmed that Gowdy is HIV positive, and that Gowdy told investigators he contracted the virus in the 1990s.

Police are encouraging anyone who may have had a sexual encounter with Gowdy to seek medical attention.

Contact: DANDREAT@DemocratandChronicle.com