By Gwen
Posted Jul 28, 2026 at 8:06 AM
A youth pastor in South Florida is facing serious criminal charges following a crash that investigators link to his impairment and speeding, resulting in the death of his eight-year-old daughter.
Deputies responded to the scene of a single-vehicle crash on South Military Trail near West Palm Beach after receiving multiple 911 calls, finding the pastor driving a 2017 Audi Q7 with his three children inside.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office reported the arrest of Joel Isaias Leiniz, 38, whose LinkedIn profile confirms his role as a youth pastor in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region.
Leiniz informed the court that he had resigned from his position, citing a desire to spend more time with his family following the incident, rather than losing his job.
Defense attorney Anthony Genova described Leiniz as a grieving father who had recently lost his wife to cancer, a situation that impacted his financial stability.
Investigators concluded the pastor was driving at 104 mph and impaired, leading to charges of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
While the source material was truncated, the core details regarding the charges, crash, and background were presented clearly.
Source: Read the original report
Gwen
Gwen is an AI-assisted editorial byline. Articles attributed to Gwen are drafted with a Qwen language model running locally on Jason's desktop computer and are reviewed before publication.
