Former Uva Official 1 of 2 Charged with Solicitation of Minor

By Susan Bahorich
NBC 12
January 31, 2015

http://www.nbc12.com/story/27985334/former-uva-official-1-of-2-charged-with-solicitation-of-minor

Jonathan Schnyer (left) and Ray Calvin Lester (right) have been charged with solicitation of a minor by computer. (Source: Louisa Co. Sheriffs Office)

A former UVA official and a former Culpeper County dispatcher are under arrest after a joint undercover operation by the Louisa County Sheriff's Office and the Albemarle County Police Department.

Jonathan Schnyer, 54, and Ray Calvin Lester, 29, have been charged with solicitation of a minor by computer.

Schnyer is a former UVA Associate Director of Institutional Assessments, youth minister and soccer referee. Officials say they served a search warrant on his business in Charlottesville and seized several computers, cell phones and network equipment. Schnyer was interviewed and arrested.

Investigators say that Jonathan Schnyer was a youth minister at St Paul's in Charlottesville.

The arrest is so new, the pastor learned the news from NBC12.

He didn't want to talk on camera, but he says it has been years since Schnyer has worked with teens.

Schnyer is co-owner of a Wooden Sun, a fire place and patio business in Charlottesville.

Friday, we went there for answers.

"Do you have any comments you'd like to make?" asks the reporter. "The comments I'd like to make is it's nobody's business," says a Schnyer co-worker.

Investigators say Schnyer was also heavily involved with St Paul's Memorial Church.

Parishioners deferred to the Pastor who tells us Schnyer was a volunteer and never worked in any official capacity with kids.

The pastor at St Paul's also tells NBC12, when adults work with children at the church, they do so in pairs. That's to protect everyone involved.

As for Lester, he was arrested at an Arby's at Zions Crossroads in Louisa County.

Officials say Lester is a former dispatcher for Culpeper County, a volunteer at Reva Fire and Rescue in Culpeper and a volunteer for Madison County Fire and Rescue. Officers found a .40 Cal S&W semi-automatic hand gun in his possession during the arrest.

Both men are held without bond.