San Antonio, Texas, Pastor Charged With Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child
By Philip Phi
Posted Sep 15, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Updated Nov 2, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Authorities in San Antonio, Texas, arrested Pena, formerly affiliated with the Church of Acts, on April 3, 2026, and charged him with continuous sexual abuse of a child. Bexar County arrest records list the charge as sex abuse of child continuous: victim under 14. One report spells his name Ryan Peña and gives his age as 50. Another report gives his age as 50 but does not give a spelling. The charge is an accusation, and Pena has not been convicted.
According to Bexar County arrest records, two adult victims who are family members of Pena reported being subjected to sexual abuse as children. Reports say the abuse allegedly began when the victims were between 6 and 8 years old and continued until they were in their late teens. Both victims disclosed the abuse to family members before contacting law enforcement, but neither pursued legal action at that time. One report says the victims’ exact relationship to Pena is not specified, while another describes them as family members.
The investigation was initiated by California authorities and led to contact with the San Antonio Police Department. In March 2026, the victims informed police that they were prepared to press charges. Speaking up about harm so that the vulnerable are defended is the lesson of this stage (Proverbs 31:8-9).
Pena was arrested on April 3 and released after posting a $150,000 bond. One report states that he was released under partial house arrest and that, if convicted, he faces up to life in prison. Prosecutors allege that the abuse began when the victims were children and involved multiple female family members, according to that report.
One report says Pena allegedly contacted one victim via social media, expressing a desire for a “friends with benefits” relationship. That allegation has not been tested in court.
The San Antonio Police Department had not responded to requests for further comment at the time of the reports. One report says police are seeking additional victims.
Sources (3):
- Texas Pastor Arrested for Allegedly Sexually Abusing 2 Young Girls for Several Years (usmagazine.com)
- San Antonio pastor charged with child sex abuse (roysreport.com)
- Local pastor arrested, accused of sexually abusing two young girls for years (news4sanantonio.com)
Philip Phi
Philip Phi is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by the project's locally hosted Microsoft Phi-4 language model. He does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Phi-4 to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Philip Phi article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
