The former leader of a conservative Christian voter outreach program favoring Donald Trump in the 2024 election has been arrested for possessing child sexual abuse materials.
Jason Yates, 55, the former CEO of evangelical nonprofit My Faith Votes, was charged in Minnesota with eight counts of possessing child sexual abuse materials.
According to court documents reviewed by Religion News Service, a relative of Yates' accidentally discovered a hard drive containing more than 100 sexually explicit images and videos of children under 14-years-old, as well as eight pieces of media involving children between the ages of five and 7-years-old. They gave it to another relative, who then handed the drive over to law enforcement.
Yates met with investigators on September 13, during which time he allegedly refused to give the investigators a password to access the encrypted files on the drive. He also revealed that he had a prior expunged conviction related to child sex abuse materials, Religion News Service added.
In early August, Yates stepped down from his CEO position at My Faith Votes and was replaced by Chris Sadler.
Yates was charged on Monday with eight counts of possessing child sexual abuse material.
“In early August 2024, the My Faith Votes board of directors separated Jason Yates from My Faith Votes and board member Chris Sadler assumed the position of Acting CEO,” a My Faith Votes spokesperson told RNS.
“Over the last three months Chris has been working with the dedicated My Faith Votes team to encourage millions of Christians to vote, pray and think biblically about this election in America,”
A few weeks before the hard drive was discovered, Yates published an op-ed in the Washington Times encouraging Christians to push back against "sexually deviant" messaging toward children. The "deviant" messaging he was describing involved LGBTQ issues.
“This infernal programming is being downloaded into our children, and it becomes far easier when it finds no resistance in our public square — when it is allowed to fill the void left by the absence of our faith,” Yates wrote in his op-ed.
The messaging was on par with what can be found on My Faith Votes, which blames Christians for being complacent in the face of "secular progressives."
“As a result of apathy at the voting booth and in public life, we’ve suffered devastating moral decay, declining religious freedom, immoral national debt, and the erosion of traditional family values,” the group's website reads.
According to Wired, My Faith Votes is part of a network of nonprofit groups trying to rally support for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Before stepping down from the group, Yates gave an interview explaining why he thought it was important for Christians to not only vote, but to vote in accordance with conservative Biblical beliefs. He asked Christians to sign a pledge to vote in every election.
“As a Christian, I commit to voting for candidates and policies that uphold the sanctity of life, the traditional family, religious liberty, and justice for all,” the pledge reads. “I believe that my biblical values should guide my choices at the ballot box, ensuring that our nation’s laws and leaders reflect God’s truth and righteousness.”
