NH Pastor Charged With Possession of Child Sex Abuse Images

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New England Cable News

NH Pastor Charged With Possession of Child Sex Abuse Images​

Marc Fortier and Diane Cho - 46m ago
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The pastor at a New Hampshire church is charged with possession of child sex abuse images and could face additional charges as part of an ongoing, years-long investigation, police say.
Stephen Bates, 46, was arrested Tuesday morning at the Bible Baptist Church on Caldwell Road, where he lives, on a felony charge of possession of child sexual abuse images.
Nashua police said the investigation leading to Bates' arrest began over five years ago, in August of 2016, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent Nashua police a tip indicating that child sexual abuse images had been accessed by an electronic device utilizing an IP address associated with the Bible Baptist Church. Similar tips were received again in 2017 and were investigated, but police said the results were not sufficient to support criminal charges.

Why investigators say this case is far from over.
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NH Pastor Accused of Possessing Child Sex Abuse Images
In 2019, as part of a Homeland Security investigation into the production and distribution of child sex abuse images in Denver, Colorado, the suspect in that case shared images with an unknown individual with an IP address asociated with the Bible Baptist Church.
A year later, police in Tallahassee, Florida, investigating the publishing of child sexual abuse images on the internet discovered the account responsible for publishing the images used an IP address associated with the same New Hampshire church.
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Again in 2021, a Homeland Security investigation into the sexual exploitaion of a child in Blaine, Washington, found that the suspect in that case had communicated with an unknown individual through social media "about their shared interest in having sexual contact with children." Again, the IP address used by the unknown individual was associated with the Bible Baptist Church.
Nashua police said Bates was considered a person of interest in the earlier investigations but until Tuesday there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with any crimes. While executing a search warrant at the church on Tuesday, police said they found two flash drives on Bates that contained numerous images of child sex abuse images.
Right now, Bates only faces the one possession of child sexual abuse images charge but Nashua police said more charges are expected as the investigation continues and more digital evidence is analyzed.
Bail was set at $3,000 and Bates is scheduled to be arraigned in Hillsborough County Superior Court on Wednesday.
After Bates posted bail, NBC10 Boston asked him about the charges he is facing. He refused to comment.
Anyone with further information on the case is asked to call the Nashua Police Department Crime Line at 603-589-1665.
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[Sugar Cookie]

The former pastor of a Nashua church is on his way to prison after pleading guilty to the manufacture and possession of child sex abuse images.

Stephen Bates, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of the manufacture of child sex abuse images and 10 counts of possession of such images.

Bates was pastor at the Bible Baptist Church in Nashua. In 2016, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children told police that someone was downloading child sex abuse images at the church by tracing the IP address.

Eventually, a detective posing as a young girl managed to uncover Bates' involvement, prosecutors said.

A search warrant uncovered the images, including one instance in which Bates pretended to be a girl and convinced a boy to take pictures of himself and send them to him.

Prosecutors said Bates initially lied when first questioned years ago by Nashua detectives.


"I am deeply sorry to the other individual and to all those I may have harmed," Bates said.

Judge Jacalyn Colburn said that at first, she was not inclined to accept the plea bargain, calling Bates' conduct a breach of trust.


"You used the word 'horrified,' and that's an excellent word, because these were horrific crimes, and you should be horrified. You should be horrified," she said. "You're a very intelligent man. You have the support of a family and a lot of people in your community, and you abused that trust and support."

Bates was sentenced to 10-23 years in prison on the manufacturing charge. He can get two years off the minimum sentence if he completes a sexual offender course.


He received a suspended sentence of seven-and-a-half to 15 years in prison on the possession charges.

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Former Nashua pastor sentenced to prison for manufacture, possession of child sex abuse images

The former pastor of a Nashua church in is on his way to prison after pleading guilty Thursday to the manufacture and possession of child sex abuse images.

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