Former Associate Pastor in Arlington, Texas, Sentenced to More Than 24 Years for Child Exploitation

Brett Jarad Monroe, 39, was a former associate pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. Federal agents executed a search warrant at his residence on December 11, 2019. According to one report, Monroe had been arrested that December by the Arlington Police Department on one count of child pornography possession. The other report does not mention that arrest.

Federal agents said Monroe admitted to using his cellphone to secretly record a minor female victim while she showered at his Arlington home. Monroe also admitted to sending, receiving, and trading child pornography online for years, and he confessed to secretly recording multiple other minor victims showering in his residence. According to court documents, he converted the video into still images that he saved in an online storage account. These facts are drawn from the agents’ accounts and the court record, and the minors’ identities are not disclosed here. Protecting children who could not protect themselves from this conduct is the central concern of the case (Psalm 82:3).

Monroe pleaded guilty in January to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. One report states that Monroe was later found to be a registered volunteer at Corey Academy of Fine Arts and Dual Language, as confirmed by the Arlington Independent School District. That report does not describe the timing of that volunteer role relative to the investigation.

At sentencing, an agent testified about Monroe’s admissions regarding online trading of child pornography, according to one report. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor imposed a sentence of 293 months in federal prison, which one report describes as more than 24 years. The report states that the sentencing took place on a Monday. Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Saleem of the Northern District of Texas prosecuted the case.