KENOSHA (WI)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
October 10, 2024
By Liz Lykins
Gabriel “Gabe” Mills, a former pastor at a megachurch in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was arrested for a new charge seconds after his preliminary hearing for previous charges.
Mills is now facing three counts of the Class 1 Felony capturing an intimate representation without consent, the Kenosha Police Department said in a statement.
Mills, a former guest experiences pastor at Journey Church, was at the preliminary hearing for accusations made in a criminal complaint filed last week.
The complaint accused Mills of sending nude photos of a woman from the phone of her husband to Mills’ phone, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported. Mills allegedly searched for the intimate photos on the husband’s phone during a church life group meeting at Mills’ home. He then sent them to himself via AirDrop.
Now a second victim has come forward with similar allegations, police reported. Detectives said they found evidence on Mills’ phone that substantiated the second victim’s claims.
“We had another person come forward on Oct. 5 that indicated that they believe they were also a victim,” Josh Hecker, a lieutenant with the Kenosha Police Department, told 12 News Wednesday. “You will see a lot of similarities between the two cases. There isn’t much difference there.”
Several search warrants have been executed against Mills and “many items of evidence have been seized,” police said in the statement.
The seized items, which include mostly electronic devices, are being processed to identify other potential victims, police reported. Mills’ investigation is still ongoing, and police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
Next steps regarding the new charge against Mills are still pending.
Church leadership declined to give police statement
Mills, 41, was fired from his role at the Journey Church on September 29, one day after church leadership learned of the allegations against the pastor, TRR reported.
Church leadership sent an email informing congregants of Mills’ termination.
“This news has come as a great shock to our church and school community,” the email, obtained by Kenosha County Eye, said. “Gabe is entitled to due process, and we will cooperate with law enforcement as they conduct their investigation.”
However, the criminal complaint alleges that church leadership hasn’t been fully cooperative with police.
Lead Pastor Kevin Taylor told police that he had spoked with Mills on September 28 and 29 regarding the allegations. Taylor confirmed he terminated Mills on September 29 because the “allegations were believable enough,” according to the criminal complaint.
When police asked Taylor to provide a formal statement of his conversations with Mills, Taylor declined. “Kevin indicated that he had spoken to Journey Church’s attorneys and he would not provide a statement,” according to the criminal complaint.
TRR reached out to the church for further comment but did not hear back prior to publication.
Journey Church belongs to the Assemblies of God and operates four campuses nationally and one in Lithuania, according to its website. The church has limited comments on both of its social media accounts, Instagram and Facebook.
Mills pleads not guilty
Mills entered a plea of not guilty yesterday for the first two charges against him, according to court records. He will next appear in court in December.
He was allegedly caught red-handed by the victim with her intimate photos, according to the criminal complaint. She saw one photo of her pop up on Mills’ phone after Mills had borrowed her husband’s phone for a “really long time.”
Mills had reportedly borrowed the phone under the pretense that he was downloading an audiobook app onto it.
Police later seized Mills phone and found two inappropriate nude photos on his phone, which the victim verified were of her. Neither of the photos were the original one she saw on Mills’ phone, according to the complaint.
“We believe that the defendant’s actions as described in the criminal complaint, does show that he did capture and then stored on a device of his . . . intimate images which were taken from another person without that person’s consent,” the prosecuting attorney, Rosa Delgado, said during the preliminary hearing.
Church members told TMJ4 that they were still in disbelief about the news.
However, other church members shared with KCE that Journey Church is a “cult-like” church.
One Facebook user made a similar allegation about a cult-like atmosphere at the church and urged people to stop attending.