Ex-Pastor Faces Life Sentence after Federal Jury Convicts Him in Teen Sex Case

By Matthew Pleasant
News Chief
March 26, 2013

http://www.newschief.com/article/20130325/NEWSCHIEF/130329456

Arnold Mathis, a former pastor faces mandatory life in prison after a federal jury found him guilty Friday of sexually assaulting a teenage boy and trying to groom two others for abuse.

Ex-Pastor Faces Life Sentence After Federal Jury Convicts Him in Teen Sex Case

LAKELAND | A former pastor faces mandatory life in prison after a federal jury found him guilty Friday of sexually assaulting a teenage boy and trying to groom two others for abuse.

Arnold Mathis, 41, was arrested in December 2011 after spending a late night at a casino and returning home to find Polk County deputies waiting.

Detectives began investigating Mathis a day before when the victim, now in his 20s, accused the former Higher Praise Ministries assistant pastor of sexually abusing him.

When the abuse began, Mathis served as senior pastor of Saint City Power and Praise Ministries in Winter Haven, Polk County deputies said at the time of his arrest.

Mathis used a cell phone between November 2004 and January 2005 to lure the victim, then 14, into having sex, according to the Justice Department. They first met at an Auburndale high school basketball game, and Mathis sexually assaulted him at least three times.

Federal prosecutors say Mathis also tried to persuade two 16-year-olds to have sex with him between May and November 2011. He met one at Higher Praise Ministries Church in Lake Wales, where he volunteered in the youth group. He met the other at a basketball game in Polk County.

He told them he was a ­pastor, offered to be their godfather and promised them presents like money and basketball shoes.

When Mathis committed the offenses, he was required to register as a sex offender. He had been convicted in 1994 of lewd and lascivious assault on a child in Leon County.

A federal judge will sentence Mathis on June 19. A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office said Mathis faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison.

Mathis still faces numerous charges in state court, including 19 counts of sexual battery.

Contact: matthew.pleasant@theledger.com