After all of the scandals involving Catholic priests, I’m always not-so-secretly glad when these sexual abuse scandals involve teachers or Protestants. Though the Lexington Herald-Leader simply tells us that the alleged offender was a youth minister, he was with the Green River Pentecostal Church in Lincoln County.
Kentucky youth pastor who confessed to sex crimes now faces federal charge
By Taylor Six | August 30, 2026 | 12:22 PM EDT
A Lincoln County youth pastor was federally charged last week with online enticement of a minor, according to court documents released Friday.
Jason Coulter, 48, of Lincoln County, faces one count of online enticement of a minor after he sexually abused a member of his church’s youth group, according to an affidavit. He was already facing charges in state court.
Normally I would be opposed to charging someone with the same crimes at both the state and local level, given that such sentences normally run concurrently. However, given the Bluegrass State’s too lenient parole laws concerning non-violent offenses, a federal sentence could keep him locked up longer.
Coulter called Kentucky State Police Aug. 14 to confess engaging in a “sexual relationship” with a 17-year-old, the affidavit states.
Coulter told law enforcement that his relationship with the youth group member began as family dinners and regular conversations. He messaged with the girl over social media apps such as TikTok and Snapchat.
Between the end of April and middle of June, Coulter confessed he sent “a lot of vulgar text messages” and sexually explicit photos to the victim, the affidavit says.
You know that internet thingy that Al Gore invented? The one which was supposed to make us all smarter? Apparently what it really does is just enable stupid people to spread their stupidity, and sometimes criminality, to a lot more people.
At least he felt guilty enough about what he had done to alert the police about his crimes. The police then contacted the victim who corroborated Mr Coulter’s statements. Unless there is more to this story than we have been told, he could have gotten away with the whole thing if he had kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t just vulgar messages: he confessed to two separate instances of sexual contact with the victim as well.
Coulter is facing charges of third-degree sodomy, possessing matter of sexual performance by a minor, promoting a sexual performance of a minor and procuring use of a minor through electronic means in Lincoln County, court records show.
Under KRS §510.090, third degree sodomy is a Class D Felony; under KRS §532.020(1)(a), a Class D Felony has a sentence of up to five years in the state penitentiary. My guess is that confession and a (probable) guilty plea will result in far less than that, but he’s still in a heap o’ trouble.