Arrested Youth Pastor Claims He Only Wanted to 'Try to Help Her Out' Before Having Sex With a Minor

A youth pastor in rural Kentucky who called police to confess to a sexual relationship with a teenage girl from his church has now been charged in federal court, according to an FBI affidavit filed in Lexington.

Jason Coulter, 48, of Lincoln County, told a Kentucky State Police trooper on 14 August 2026 that he had sex with a 17-year-old member of his youth group and exchanged explicit messages with her online. The case centres on alleged encounters in Mercer and Lincoln counties, as well as months of online communication.

Federal prosecutors say Coulter's use of TikTok and Snapchat to contact the girl brings the conduct within a federal statute that criminalises using interstate communications to entice a minor into sexual activity. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and potentially up to life.

How the Youth Pastor's Confession Unfolded

Coulter called Kentucky State Police on 14 August and said he wanted to confess to crimes, the FBI affidavit states.

A trooper met him at his home, where Coulter explained that he worked as an insurance salesman, a funeral director and the youth pastor at Green River Pentecostal Church, a 105-year-old independent congregation on Ky. 698 near Hustonville.

He told the trooper he had met the girl, identified only as 'Minor Victim 1', through the church youth group. Coulter said he and his family took her to dinner a few times and 'tried to help her out and encourage her', according to the affidavit.

The pair then began talking regularly on TikTok before moving their conversations to Snapchat, where the messages became increasingly explicit. For roughly six weeks, from late April or early May until mid-June 2026, Coulter admitted sending 'a lot of vulgar text messages' and trading images with the girl, the filing says.

He told police they met for sex twice, once after school at Anderson-Dean Park in Harrodsburg in Mercer County, and again in his vehicle in Lincoln County after a funeral the girl had helped him with around May 2026.

They discussed meeting again and 'planned to meet a few times, but it never worked out', according to his account.

Coulter told investigators that after the youth group attended a summer camp in the third week of June, he 'felt bad about his relationship' and stopped messaging the girl about sexual matters, although they kept talking. It was only in mid-August that he called Kentucky State Police to confess to the conduct.

The Girl's Statement and the Federal Case

State police interviewed the girl on 17 August, three days after Coulter's confession. According to the affidavit, she confirmed that Coulter was her youth pastor and said she had attended the church for about a year.

She described two sexual encounters, the first at a park in Harrodsburg in late April 2026 and the second in his vehicle near the church after a funeral, mirroring the timeline Coulter gave. She also told investigators that nude images were exchanged over Snapchat and TikTok for about a month.

Kentucky State Police seized both of their phones and obtained search warrants for the devices and for both Snapchat accounts. At the time the affidavit was signed, results from those searches were still pending, so the filing relies primarily on the accounts given by Coulter and the girl.

The affidavit notes that the alleged enticement occurred 'while in the Eastern District of Kentucky', which includes Lincoln and Mercer counties, as well as Fayette.

The federal complaint is only the initial step in a US prosecution and is typically followed by a grand jury indictment within 30 days of an arrest based on the complaint. As of the latest filings, no defence attorney is listed for Coulter in the federal case.

State Charges, Online Enticement and Kentucky's Consent Law

Coulter was already facing four state charges before the federal complaint landed. Kentucky State Police filed four state charges against Coulter on 17 August.

Those charges include third-degree sodomy, possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, promoting a sexual performance by a minor, and procuring or promoting the use of a minor by electronic means.

He was booked into the Pulaski County Detention Centre, where he remains in custody. A preliminary hearing in the state case was scheduled for 31 August, while the federal complaint will typically be followed by a grand jury indictment.

Federal prosecutors argue that his use of internet platforms and mobile phones to communicate with the girl takes the case beyond state boundaries, even though all physical meetings happened within Kentucky.

The federal statute at issue applies to conduct involving anyone under 18, regardless of state age-of-consent rules, as long as interstate communications technology is used to entice the minor into sexual activity.

Kentucky's own law is more nuanced. The age of consent in the state is 16, but there are specific protections when the adult is in a 'position of authority or special trust' over the young person, a category that explicitly includes clergy.

Coulter's confession to state police came before federal authorities stepped in, and he was initially charged under Kentucky law.

The federal criminal complaint, filed on 28 August 2026 in US District Court in Lexington, accuses him of online enticement of a minor under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), according to an affidavit sworn by FBI Special Agent Bethany Harmon.

That statute covers anyone who uses the internet or a phone to persuade, induce or entice a person under 18 into sexual activity. The filing describes a case that moved quickly from a self-reported admission to a layered state and federal prosecution.

For the congregation at Green River Pentecostal Church, the case raises difficult questions about oversight and safeguarding.

The church is described in court papers as an independent Pentecostal congregation that has operated for more than a century.

The affidavit does not address what role, if any, other church leaders played in supervising Coulter's work with young people.

What happens next depends on the grand jury and the federal court calendar. An indictment would move the case into a more formal phase, with discovery, motions, and eventually a trial or a plea.