Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / "HE'S A MONSTER:" HIDDEN SIDE OF PALMETTO CHILD-PORN PASTOR SUSPECT
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
- 0:06Speaker 2: He's a monster, A claim of a hidden side emerging
- 0:13Speaker 2: of a Palmetto child porn pastor suspect. You heard me right,
- 0:21Speaker 2: a Palmetto pastor accused of child porn and more a
- 0:28Speaker 2: Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. Thank you for being with.
- 0:32Speaker 3: Us, Florida detective So receive a tip that Pastor Jonathan
- 0:37Speaker 3: Elwing used cryptocurrency to buy child sexual abuse material on
- 0:43Speaker 3: the dark web.
- 0:46Speaker 2: Those are words you don't want in the same sentence together,
- 0:51Speaker 2: A so called Christian pastor and child porn all in
- 0:56Speaker 2: the same sentence. A former Palmetto emphasis on former pastor
- 1:01Speaker 2: arrested for child pornography is now facing over a dozen
- 1:07Speaker 2: new charges stemming from the child porn Who is this
- 1:14Speaker 2: guy listen.
- 1:15Speaker 4: Preaching the gospel in several areas of Florida with his
- 1:17Speaker 4: wife and four children, And so Pastor Jonathan Elwing is
- 1:21Speaker 4: the picture of what a conservative Christian leader looks like.
- 1:24Speaker 4: So when the Manatee County Sheriff's Office gets a tip
- 1:27Speaker 4: from cryptocurrency company Coinbase that the forty three year old
- 1:30Speaker 4: senior pastor of Palm View Baptist Church may have used
- 1:33Speaker 4: cryptocurrency to buy child pornography. Investigators know you can't judge
- 1:37Speaker 4: a book by its cover, but Ewing has a pretty
- 1:39Speaker 4: good cover?
- 1:40Speaker 1: Is he? Is he a quote? Pretty good cover?
- 1:45Speaker 5: You know what?
- 1:46Speaker 2: I could talk about this Palmetto pastor all day long.
- 1:49Speaker 2: TI line blue in the face. But let's take a
- 1:53Speaker 2: listen from the horse's mouth. And this became from the
- 1:57Speaker 2: Palm View First Baptist Church YouTube channel.
- 2:01Speaker 6: Is if you spend all your time searching for the
- 2:03Speaker 6: truth and you haven't found it, and you're tired of
- 2:07Speaker 6: trying to live a life that is pleasing to God
- 2:11Speaker 6: because you realize that you can't do it, and He says,
- 2:14Speaker 6: I want you to come to me. And when a
- 2:19Speaker 6: person sincerely comes to Jesus Christ admitting that they need
- 2:23Speaker 6: to be saved from their sin, then they are aware
- 2:25Speaker 6: that they can no longer. They could never have saved themselves.
- 2:30Speaker 6: You know, I don't know.
- 2:31Speaker 2: I'm not a biblical scholar, although I try my best
- 2:35Speaker 2: and fail spectacularly.
- 2:37Speaker 1: Somewhere in there.
- 2:39Speaker 2: There's got to be something about you know what's the
- 2:41Speaker 2: worst A hypocrite.
- 2:43Speaker 1: A hypocrite.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Remember how Christ would make a point of referring to
- 2:50Speaker 2: the scribes and the pharisees and how.
- 2:54Speaker 1: Hate was in their hearts.
- 2:56Speaker 2: Just think about that for just one moment, and yet
- 3:00Speaker 2: he's taking he This guy, Jonathan Edward Elwing, seems to
- 3:06Speaker 2: be taking Christ towards and totally like twisting them around
- 3:12Speaker 2: because we know he's charged not only with child pornography
- 3:18Speaker 2: but actually attacking children. Jordan Littwiller joining US investigative reporter
- 3:24Speaker 2: and anchor WWSB.
- 3:26Speaker 1: That's ABC seven.
- 3:29Speaker 2: He's also at my Soncoast dot com. Jordan, tell me
- 3:38Speaker 2: about the charges on this pastor.
- 3:40Speaker 7: Yeah, So, forty three year old Jonathan Elwing is facing
- 3:43Speaker 7: eighteen separate charges two different cases. In the first case,
- 3:47Speaker 7: he's facing four charges of possessing child pornography, and then
- 3:51Speaker 7: in the separate case, he's facing six additional counts of
- 3:54Speaker 7: possessing child pornography, as well as six counts of using
- 3:57Speaker 7: a child to engage in sex, one count of capital
- 4:00Speaker 7: sexual battery by somewhat above the age of eighteen committed
- 4:04Speaker 7: against somebody under the age of twelve, and also one
- 4:07Speaker 7: count of leud Elasivius molestation. He was initially facing two
- 4:10Speaker 7: counts of that capital sexual battery, but those charges have
- 4:13Speaker 7: since change, dropping one of those charges and changing it
- 4:16Speaker 7: into that molestation charge in Jordan.
- 4:18Speaker 1: He got me drink from the fire hydrant. Again.
- 4:21Speaker 2: You've just rattled all that off before I could even
- 4:24Speaker 2: take it in. Okay, Hold on, what kind of a
- 4:29Speaker 2: pastor is this guy? Baptist? Is he a Catholic? Is
- 4:33Speaker 2: he a Unitarian?
- 4:34Speaker 1: What is he?
- 4:35Speaker 7: Yeah, so he's a Baptist pastor. He graduated from a university,
- 4:38Speaker 7: a Florida Baptist University in two thousand and four. He
- 4:41Speaker 7: was then an associate pastor at a couple of different
- 4:44Speaker 7: churches here in the area in Florida, and then he
- 4:46Speaker 7: became a lead pastor here at the first Baptist in
- 4:50Speaker 7: Palmetto back in twenty nineteen. So he's been a pastor
- 4:52Speaker 7: for over two decades. He was actually replacing a pastor
- 4:55Speaker 7: at this church who was there for over forty years. Obviously,
- 4:58Speaker 7: the congregation and the members of that church we're hoping
- 5:00Speaker 7: he would be the next long term pastor. But obviously
- 5:03Speaker 7: that didn't end up being the case.
- 5:04Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute.
- 5:05Speaker 2: Usually I say to the guests, you're talking too slowly.
- 5:09Speaker 2: You're talking I can't drink in everything you're saying. And
- 5:14Speaker 2: in my world Jordan, Every fact is important.
- 5:19Speaker 1: Okay, did you say he's Baptist? Is that what you said?
- 5:22Speaker 8: Yeah?
- 5:23Speaker 3: Yep, that's correct.
- 5:24Speaker 2: Okay, thank you Lord for him not being Methodist. Okay,
- 5:27Speaker 2: I'm a United Methodist. And after the United Methodist pastor
- 5:31Speaker 2: that killed not one but two wives, I mean, okay,
- 5:34Speaker 2: I'm sure that the Baptists are spinning like tops right now.
- 5:38Speaker 2: So this guy, Jordan Littwiller has how many charges against him?
- 5:44Speaker 2: How many charges have been leveled at Jonathan Edward owing?
- 5:48Speaker 1: How many? Eighteen? Now?
- 5:50Speaker 2: Does that include the child porn and the offenses on children?
- 5:55Speaker 1: The sex attacks on children?
- 5:56Speaker 3: Yeah?
- 5:56Speaker 7: So that includes everything. There's the initial charges, which were
- 6:00Speaker 7: the four cases of possessing child pornography that ultimately led
- 6:03Speaker 7: to fourteen additional charges which actually he was found pictured
- 6:07Speaker 7: of abusing children on his phone.
- 6:10Speaker 2: Oh on this a moment he videos himself molesting children.
- 6:14Speaker 1: Did I get that right, Jordan?
- 6:16Speaker 7: So, according to the probable cause affidavit, after the initial
- 6:20Speaker 7: photos were found, the forensic scientist did another deep dive
- 6:23Speaker 7: off his phone a couple days later, I believe it
- 6:25Speaker 7: was four days later where they found six additional pictures,
- 6:29Speaker 7: and then he was actually pictured in those images. Yeah,
- 6:32Speaker 7: allegedly abusing sexually abusing a two year old.
- 6:36Speaker 2: Okay, Jordan, again, you're just like rattling this off. Did
- 6:40Speaker 2: you hear what you just said? Allegations he sex abused
- 6:43Speaker 2: a two year old? What is exactly the charge on
- 6:48Speaker 2: the abuse of the two year old? Is it sodomy?
- 6:51Speaker 2: Is it child rape? Is it some sort of a
- 6:54Speaker 2: lester molestation? What is he accused of doing to a
- 6:56Speaker 2: two year old child?
- 6:57Speaker 7: So that's the charge of capital sexual of someone above
- 7:01Speaker 7: the age of eighteen on someone who is less than twelve?
- 7:03Speaker 2: And what is capital sex battery in the state of Florida?
- 7:08Speaker 2: I can only assume that's full on rape or sodomy?
- 7:12Speaker 1: Which one is it?
- 7:13Speaker 7: Yes, he is accused of fully raping a two year old.
- 7:16Speaker 1: Okay.
- 7:16Speaker 2: I'm not often left speechless, but right now I am.
- 7:23Speaker 2: John Bizarro is a raven CEO, former New Jersey State
- 7:28Speaker 2: Police Commander, Internet Crimes against Children Task Force, and so
- 7:36Speaker 2: much more.
- 7:37Speaker 1: John, Do you ever, I mean, you and I have seen.
- 7:41Speaker 2: It all, but every time I hear about a new case,
- 7:45Speaker 2: I feel sick all over again. Do you ever just
- 7:49Speaker 2: want to quit because it's too much? I think about it?
- 7:52Speaker 2: But then I hear about somebody like Jonathan Edward Ewing,
- 7:55Speaker 2: and I feel that I've got to keep going.
- 7:57Speaker 9: You know, I'm not surprised Nancy anymore. I mean, really,
- 8:00Speaker 9: the amount of people that we do this and look
- 8:04Speaker 9: two year olds. Unfortunately, tour or the dark Web, that's
- 8:09Speaker 9: where he was. There's so many platforms on actually how
- 8:12Speaker 9: to really rape children on these platforms. So these are
- 8:17Speaker 9: the places that he played at, right, that's where he learned,
- 8:22Speaker 9: and generally, in my experience, there's going to be a
- 8:25Speaker 9: lot more victims. It just did he just didn't wake
- 8:28Speaker 9: up last week and decided to start this right, So,
- 8:31Speaker 9: I think this has been going on for a while.
- 8:33Speaker 9: So from an investigation standpoint, they're going to have to
- 8:36Speaker 9: look at his whole career as a pastor and how
- 8:40Speaker 9: many opportunities he had to be around children.
- 8:44Speaker 2: You know, Karen Stark joining me, renowned psychologist, TV radio
- 8:49Speaker 2: trauma expert.
- 8:50Speaker 1: She's at Karenstark dot com as Karen with a C.
- 8:53Speaker 2: I always say in case you're trying to find her,
- 8:56Speaker 2: you know, Karen Stark, when you first met me, I
- 8:59Speaker 2: was getting my What was I getting at that point?
- 9:01Speaker 2: An m a Masters of Law in criminal and Constitutional
- 9:05Speaker 2: law at NYU, New York University. But prior to that,
- 9:10Speaker 2: I was at Mercer University, a small Baptist university, which
- 9:16Speaker 2: was all about love.
- 9:18Speaker 1: But you know, this type of.
- 9:20Speaker 2: A crime can brand a religion, or does it, because
- 9:26Speaker 2: this guy's a Baptist preacher. But we really see it
- 9:30Speaker 2: across the board. We see Catholic priests who molested choir
- 9:34Speaker 2: boys and others. I told you about the United Methodist
- 9:38Speaker 2: pastor that killed two wives. Hello, you couldn't catch him
- 9:42Speaker 2: the first time. He had to kill another wife before
- 9:44Speaker 2: you can catch him. And it goes.
- 9:46Speaker 1: On and on and on.
- 9:48Speaker 2: So no religion is immune to its leaders committing crimes,
- 9:55Speaker 2: but it seems more shocking, and it shouldn't. It shouldn't,
- 9:59Speaker 2: but it seems we're shocking because it's truly a wolf clothed,
- 10:05Speaker 2: It cheeps clothing.
- 10:07Speaker 8: That's a great way to put it.
- 10:08Speaker 10: An empty because the truth is, we think about religious
- 10:13Speaker 10: leaders and we think that they're immune to this kind
- 10:16Speaker 10: and it's just the opposite of what we think. Because
- 10:19Speaker 10: someone in this position has access to children. They're usually
- 10:24Speaker 10: a good standing in the community, that's not unusual at all,
- 10:28Speaker 10: and they have access because they want to be around children,
- 10:32Speaker 10: and they want people not to suspect them. So, just
- 10:36Speaker 10: like you said, that's a great way for them to
- 10:38Speaker 10: hide and get away with doing what they're doing. And
- 10:42Speaker 10: I'm not the least bit shocked. Nobody should be, because
- 10:46Speaker 10: that is the way that they operate.
- 10:55Speaker 3: A search of the church and Elwing's home reveals several
- 11:00Speaker 3: hidden cameras. Oh dear Lord in heaven.
- 11:05Speaker 2: First, I've got this Baptist pastor out of Palmettow with
- 11:09Speaker 2: alleged child porn on his phone. He idiot paid for
- 11:14Speaker 2: it with crypto, and they reported him. And thank goodness,
- 11:18Speaker 2: I've got Jordan Littwiller here, investigative reporter in anchor at
- 11:22Speaker 2: WWSB that's ABC seven. You can also find him at
- 11:26Speaker 2: Mysouncoast dot com. Thank goodness, I've got him to give
- 11:31Speaker 2: me all the facts. But what I'm understanding from him
- 11:34Speaker 2: right now and from the documents that I've read, is
- 11:37Speaker 2: this all started with Crypto calling and reporting this pastor
- 11:43Speaker 2: allegendly is buying child porn with Crypto.
- 11:48Speaker 1: That leads to a search warrant and they get him.
- 11:51Speaker 2: He hands over his phone, thank you very much, and
- 11:56Speaker 2: they start searching it and they find the alleged child
- 12:00Speaker 2: porn and it's actually him storing in a child porn video,
- 12:06Speaker 2: so that leads me to the alleged rape of a
- 12:12Speaker 2: two year old, not just the alleged rape of a
- 12:14Speaker 2: two year old.
- 12:15Speaker 1: He videoed it.
- 12:17Speaker 2: Okay, Jordan willerd thank goodness that you are fair and impartial.
- 12:23Speaker 2: Could you please give me these facts in a nutshell
- 12:27Speaker 2: one more time and don't go so fast.
- 12:30Speaker 1: I have to dissect it. Okay, go ahead, Jordan, thank you.
- 12:33Speaker 7: Sould you want me to start from very beginning.
- 12:35Speaker 1: The beginning.
- 12:36Speaker 2: Absolutely, I'm one of those people that need repetition, repetition,
- 12:41Speaker 2: And did I mention repetition?
- 12:43Speaker 1: Okay, go ahead? What happened? Yep?
- 12:45Speaker 7: So I talked to Coinbas's Global intelligence office. They said
- 12:49Speaker 7: that Jonathan Elwing made a purchase around ten dollars worth
- 12:52Speaker 7: of cryptocurrency. He sent that money to an address who
- 12:57Speaker 7: was flagged by the compliance team at coinbase. Once that
- 13:01Speaker 7: purchase was verified, they knew that it was a purchase
- 13:05Speaker 7: from an account who is known to have sold child
- 13:07Speaker 7: pornography in the past. They flagged that purchase went to
- 13:11Speaker 7: the Florida Department of Homeland Security, who then connected coinbase
- 13:15Speaker 7: with local law enforcement. Local law enforcement was then able
- 13:19Speaker 7: to carry out the search warrant and talk to Jonathan
- 13:22Speaker 7: Elwing and one thing to include. Jonathan Elwing actually prefaced
- 13:25Speaker 7: things by saying too local detectives that he would buy
- 13:29Speaker 7: adult pornography. So he admitted to that before handing over
- 13:32Speaker 7: his phone, and he said that sometimes the seller would
- 13:35Speaker 7: include pictures of child pornography, but that there shouldn't be
- 13:38Speaker 7: any on his phone at that time. He said he
- 13:41Speaker 7: would always delete those images. Ultimately, that didn't end up
- 13:44Speaker 7: being the case apparently, as the local law enforcement agencies
- 13:47Speaker 7: did find images of child pornography on his phone. They
- 13:50Speaker 7: then took him in for an interview.
- 13:52Speaker 2: Okay, Jordan, I need to understand what you just said.
- 13:56Speaker 2: I remember when I wrote my first book, Ejection, and
- 14:01Speaker 2: one of the chapters was about, as I called it,
- 14:03Speaker 2: blood money, where people they're ghules they sell. For instance,
- 14:10Speaker 2: some I remember on Helera Sindez I believe that was
- 14:13Speaker 2: his name, would sell his hair and his toenails and
- 14:16Speaker 2: his fingernails, scrapings from behind bars and actually make money.
- 14:20Speaker 2: He is a serial killer. Okay, let's see. Maybe it's
- 14:24Speaker 2: on Helen Sendez Ramirez. Anyway, and I started writing about
- 14:29Speaker 2: people that sell ghoulish content from money, and I called
- 14:34Speaker 2: it blood money. And I had like a two hundred
- 14:37Speaker 2: and fifty believe it or not dollar little laptop and
- 14:41Speaker 2: it was about the size of a spiral notebook that
- 14:43Speaker 2: I would write used to research and write the book.
- 14:45Speaker 2: At the end of the book, I destroyed the computer.
- 14:48Speaker 2: You know why, because it had looked up so much
- 14:52Speaker 2: horrible content. I felt the computer was cursed. I know, crazy, right.
- 14:58Speaker 5: But.
- 15:00Speaker 2: I never had something like what he's saying happened. I've
- 15:06Speaker 2: gone to certain websites and something else popped up, and
- 15:13Speaker 2: I immediately closed down the website because it's totally infecting
- 15:16Speaker 2: your computer with malware. But I've never heard of child
- 15:21Speaker 2: porn just popping up.
- 15:25Speaker 1: Is that what he's saying happened.
- 15:27Speaker 7: So he's saying that the seller included it in the
- 15:30Speaker 7: batch that he bought of adult pornography without his knowledge.
- 15:34Speaker 7: He says that he would always delete those images whenever
- 15:37Speaker 7: they were accidentally or however you want to put it
- 15:39Speaker 7: included in that batch that he would purchase intentionally of
- 15:43Speaker 7: adult pornography. So he says he never intentionally bought any
- 15:47Speaker 7: child pornography or had any intentions of having that on
- 15:50Speaker 7: his phone, but they would sometimes end up being on
- 15:52Speaker 7: his phone because of something that happened on the seller's end.
- 15:55Speaker 2: Okay, Stacey Hana is joining me. Assistant State's Attorney out
- 15:59Speaker 2: of Florida, specialty sex crimes and child abuse. Author of
- 16:04Speaker 2: My Privates Are Private, Author of Genius with a Penis
- 16:08Speaker 2: Don't touch. Author of the Bully at School is really
- 16:13Speaker 2: uncul and you can find her. It's Stacy Hanowitz dot com. Stacy,
- 16:19Speaker 2: I think this would be the perfect moment for you.
- 16:22Speaker 1: Specifically to hear this.
- 16:25Speaker 2: Listen this day from the Palm of You First Baptist
- 16:29Speaker 2: Church YouTube channel.
- 16:31Speaker 6: But Jesus doesn't say that forgiveness is found. Forgiveness of
- 16:36Speaker 6: God is found by going to church. It's not found
- 16:40Speaker 6: by following any living human. It's not found by following
- 16:45Speaker 6: a certain but it is found by forgiveness of sin.
- 16:50Speaker 2: Now, I would never be accused of being a saint.
- 16:54Speaker 2: That's not going to happen. But I try, I really
- 16:58Speaker 2: try every day to do the right thing. And I
- 17:01Speaker 2: do know this as a failing Christian talking about Christ's forgiveness,
- 17:08Speaker 2: You're not gonna get it.
- 17:10Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure.
- 17:12Speaker 2: By buying child porn. Pretty sure that's not the road
- 17:16Speaker 2: to heaven. But that said, the video you just saw
- 17:19Speaker 2: is from the Palm View Baptist's first YouTube channel. Stacy Honowitz,
- 17:26Speaker 2: I love that this guy there's.
- 17:28Speaker 1: Anything to love about this case.
- 17:31Speaker 2: I love that this guy says, oh, I was buying
- 17:34Speaker 2: adult porn red flag and child porn just popped up. Okay,
- 17:41Speaker 2: I hear you, But where did the porn come from?
- 17:44Speaker 2: That's of you raping a two year old child? Did
- 17:48Speaker 2: that just pop up on your adult porn site? Help
- 17:51Speaker 2: me out, Stacy Honowitz.
- 17:52Speaker 8: Well, I don't think anybody would be. I'm certainly I'm
- 17:55Speaker 8: not shocked. Thirty six years of doing this type of work,
- 17:57Speaker 8: we see this all the time, and we do hear
- 17:59Speaker 8: the defense of.
- 17:59Speaker 3: The just popped up.
- 18:01Speaker 8: Now when you're on video raping a child?
- 18:05Speaker 1: Wait, whit white?
- 18:06Speaker 2: Stacey Honowitz, you are a fountain of information. This is
- 18:10Speaker 2: her specialty. I just wanted to see your face when
- 18:13Speaker 2: you said this. Did you say this is a common defense?
- 18:17Speaker 1: It just popped up?
- 18:18Speaker 8: Yes, it's a common defense. I mean what else could
- 18:21Speaker 8: they possibly say? They say it got sent to me accidentally.
- 18:25Speaker 8: It just popped up. It came up on my computer.
- 18:27Speaker 8: You know, when you couple it with what he's charged with,
- 18:30Speaker 8: raping his own child, raping a child and then videotaping it, well,
- 18:34Speaker 8: the likelihood is that he's swapping and trading his own tapes.
- 18:38Speaker 8: And you know, the other guests that you had on
- 18:42Speaker 8: could tell you that in these types of situations, that's
- 18:45Speaker 8: what we see. When they are videotaping themselves, they're doing
- 18:49Speaker 8: it for a reason. Number one, they're sick, and number
- 18:51Speaker 8: two is they are involved in some kind of corno
- 18:54Speaker 8: ring where they are trading their own porn for a
- 18:56Speaker 8: certain amount of money. So that's what we're seeing here.
- 18:59Speaker 8: And when we're talking about a capital case for your
- 19:01Speaker 8: viewers and your listeners, we're talking about somebody that's raping
- 19:05Speaker 8: someone orally, digitally or with his sexual organ and he's
- 19:12Speaker 8: looking at life in prison. The victim is under the
- 19:14Speaker 8: age of twelve and he's over the age of eighteen.
- 19:16Speaker 8: That is a capital case in Florida. And so that's
- 19:20Speaker 8: what you're seeing here. You're seeing a myriad of child
- 19:23Speaker 8: porn coupled with what he's doing himself. So those charges
- 19:28Speaker 8: and I can bet you dollars to donuts that once
- 19:30Speaker 8: this investigation really gets cracking. You are going to see
- 19:33Speaker 8: other victims come forward, or they're going to be able
- 19:36Speaker 8: to try to identify other victims in the child.
- 19:39Speaker 3: Porn forensic cell phone search finds photos of Elwing sexually
- 19:46Speaker 3: battering a child, in all, a total of sixteen child
- 19:50Speaker 3: pornography photos.
- 19:54Speaker 2: Okay, how did we get access to his phone?
- 19:59Speaker 5: Listen search warrants and having been properly mirandized, Jonathan Elwing
- 20:03Speaker 5: agrees to speak with the investigator. Elwing gives the passcode
- 20:07Speaker 5: for his personal phone he took out of his pocket,
- 20:10Speaker 5: and as the investigator unlocks the phone and begins to look,
- 20:13Speaker 5: Jonathan Elwing says he sometimes purchases adult pornography from a
- 20:17Speaker 5: quote third party, and it's possible that child pornography would
- 20:21Speaker 5: be a part of the purchase without his knowledge. Elwing
- 20:24Speaker 5: says when he sees the child pornography images or videos,
- 20:27Speaker 5: he deletes them. Elwing says he doesn't want to talk
- 20:30Speaker 5: about the adult material they looks at, So I guess.
- 20:33Speaker 2: He's climbing a cell phone malfunction because they did not delete.
- 20:36Speaker 1: Okay, there's more. Listen.
- 20:37Speaker 5: The forensic search of Jonathan Elwing's cell phone reveals image
- 20:40Speaker 5: of him sexually battering a child, along with production and
- 20:43Speaker 5: possession of twelve images of child sexual abuse material. Elwing
- 20:48Speaker 5: admitted to purchasing adult pornography and claims he deletes any
- 20:51Speaker 5: child's sexual abuse material. That quote may get mixed in. However,
- 20:56Speaker 5: investigators are able to extract hidden files from Elwing's personal
- 21:00Speaker 5: cell phone, and deputies say he's using a private photo
- 21:03Speaker 5: vault app to hide at least fourteen pictures of him
- 21:06Speaker 5: sexually abusing a two year old child.
- 21:09Speaker 2: Okay, see, you know you can go to law school.
- 21:12Speaker 2: You can then get a fancy degree from.
- 21:14Speaker 1: Not just law school at Mercer, but NYU.
- 21:16Speaker 2: But you don't know anything about private photo vault apps.
- 21:23Speaker 2: Joining me in addition to Jordan Littwiller joining us from WWSB.
- 21:29Speaker 2: Stacy Honowitz, veteran prosecutor of child sex crimes and child abuse,
- 21:36Speaker 2: Karen Start renounced psychologist John Pizerou, former New Jersey State
- 21:42Speaker 2: Police commander of Crimes on Children. Now Anna Sonoda, child
- 21:48Speaker 2: sex abuse and grooming expert, author of Duck Duck Groom.
- 21:55Speaker 2: You focus very often on online grooming. What can you
- 22:02Speaker 2: tell me about a private photo vault app?
- 22:06Speaker 11: Well, Nancy, I'm having a hard time keeping my breakfast down.
- 22:09Speaker 11: This is such a devastating case because it highlights everything
- 22:13Speaker 11: we know to be true about grooming, which is that
- 22:16Speaker 11: predators are serial liars and they seek out environments where
- 22:22Speaker 11: they can access children. So in his role as a pastor,
- 22:26Speaker 11: he had hands on access to children, and he used
- 22:31Speaker 11: his personal cell phone to be a sleuth on the
- 22:35Speaker 11: dark web. These are not websites that normal, healthy, well
- 22:41Speaker 11: adjusted individuals are going to. This is the dark web.
- 22:45Speaker 11: These are places that we rely on IP addresses and
- 22:49Speaker 11: the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to be
- 22:53Speaker 11: scrolling to find predators like Jonathan so that we can
- 22:57Speaker 11: take them down. And we need to mend not only
- 23:01Speaker 11: coinbase in this case, but also the local law enforcement
- 23:05Speaker 11: in Florida. They have done an outstanding job getting the
- 23:09Speaker 11: tip and then following up and doing their job so
- 23:12Speaker 11: that we can put this predator away.
- 23:14Speaker 1: I agree with everything you just said. I wish I
- 23:18Speaker 1: could hear it all over again.
- 23:20Speaker 2: Hey, Karen, start with me, You know Karen Stark or
- 23:25Speaker 2: now on TV radio trauma expert and psychologist Karen. I
- 23:29Speaker 2: would like to tell myself, well, this child was two.
- 23:34Speaker 1: Years old when this happened. They're not going to remember.
- 23:37Speaker 1: They are. They are going to remember.
- 23:40Speaker 2: And even if they lock that memory away and suppress it,
- 23:44Speaker 2: it will re emerge, maybe not on their a conscious level,
- 23:49Speaker 2: but in the way they raise their children, if they
- 23:54Speaker 2: can even have a normal relationship with another human, if
- 23:59Speaker 2: they can and love and be loved normally, if they
- 24:04Speaker 2: you know how you raise your children like I raise
- 24:07Speaker 2: my children.
- 24:08Speaker 1: As a victim of violent crime.
- 24:11Speaker 2: I suspect everybody I see a molester or a killer
- 24:15Speaker 2: behind every tree. You know what I went through when
- 24:17Speaker 2: the children just try to go to Scout camp.
- 24:20Speaker 3: Right that said two years old.
- 24:24Speaker 1: We think the.
- 24:25Speaker 2: Victim, one of them, anyway, was two years old. Will
- 24:29Speaker 2: they have a memory of getting raped by this earth?
- 24:34Speaker 10: Allegedly, it won't be a clear memory the way it
- 24:37Speaker 10: would be if they were older and anty, but you're right,
- 24:40Speaker 10: it will definitely affect them. It will be there and
- 24:43Speaker 10: they're unconscious if they don't actually have images, and it
- 24:47Speaker 10: will affect them for the rest of their life.
- 24:50Speaker 1: And I want to add that the.
- 24:51Speaker 10: Reason that this man is taking these pictures of himself
- 24:56Speaker 10: of using this little girl is not just because he
- 24:59Speaker 10: wants to change it. But there is no doubt in
- 25:02Speaker 10: my mind that he keeps looking at it over and
- 25:05Speaker 10: over again because he enjoys it. This is the only
- 25:08Speaker 10: way that he could get real sexual pleasure.
- 25:11Speaker 1: He won't stop.
- 25:12Speaker 10: There's no doubt he has done this before that other
- 25:16Speaker 10: children have suffered, and he would have continued if he
- 25:20Speaker 10: didn't think that he was getting away with something and
- 25:23Speaker 10: got caught on the dark web.
- 25:25Speaker 2: You know, to John Pizzorro about this vault this, how
- 25:33Speaker 2: does he say it a private photo vault app to
- 25:40Speaker 2: hide the photos? That shows me he didn't delete them.
- 25:45Speaker 2: He actually downloaded and got this app the same way
- 25:49Speaker 2: a lot of us would get various apps, you know,
- 25:53Speaker 2: like Prime video app, Netflix app, you name it app.
- 25:57Speaker 1: He had to download this.
- 26:00Speaker 2: I have a vault app for photos and then hide
- 26:04Speaker 2: the child point in it. And I just want to
- 26:07Speaker 2: think about this, Karen Start. I have memories at age two,
- 26:11Speaker 2: for sure. I have distinct memories that can date back
- 26:15Speaker 2: to age two, and they're very clear. I remember them
- 26:20Speaker 2: very well. So and that was just a nondescript image
- 26:25Speaker 2: a memory. So I find it difficult to believe that
- 26:29Speaker 2: this child, and I'm sure there are others allegedly. I
- 26:33Speaker 2: believe the child will have a distinct memory of being.
- 26:38Speaker 1: Raped by the preacher John Pisorro. What is this app?
- 26:44Speaker 2: I'm very intrigued by a private photo vault app.
- 26:48Speaker 9: So all these offenders never get rid of their photos.
- 26:50Speaker 9: They hold on to them against the sexual gratification, over
- 26:53Speaker 9: and over again to relive that experience. So a vault
- 26:57Speaker 9: app basically will look like calculator. So you know, if
- 27:02Speaker 9: you see two calculators on someone's phone, it's not because
- 27:06Speaker 9: they love math. It's because that there's another way for
- 27:09Speaker 9: them to hold that information. So that's where people will
- 27:14Speaker 9: download that because again they're hiding it. So every activity
- 27:18Speaker 9: he's taken, from going to the dark web to actually
- 27:24Speaker 9: looking at ways to hold that information, I'm sure you'll
- 27:28Speaker 9: find even more digital devices that he stored it and
- 27:31Speaker 9: held it from SD cards, anything he can do to
- 27:35Speaker 9: hold that information so he can access it anytime he wants.
- 27:44Speaker 3: A deacon for the church says I keep thinking this
- 27:47Speaker 3: is a really bad dream, and adding we are no
- 27:52Speaker 3: longer associated with it.
- 27:54Speaker 1: Well, I guess they're not. Guys.
- 27:56Speaker 2: We are talking about a Baptist minister now charged with
- 28:02Speaker 2: child pornography and child sex offenses. To Jordan Littweller, joining
- 28:08Speaker 2: US reporter anchor WWSB, that's ABC seven News. He's also
- 28:13Speaker 2: at Mysncoast dot com. Jordan, if you know the answer,
- 28:17Speaker 2: don't say it, But do you know who the alleged
- 28:22Speaker 2: victims are?
- 28:24Speaker 7: So we haven't been able to confirm who the alleged
- 28:27Speaker 7: victims are given the age and the nature of the crimes.
- 28:31Speaker 1: The witness list.
- 28:32Speaker 7: On the Manatee County Clerk's office is completely redacted, so
- 28:36Speaker 7: none of that information is out there. The probable cause
- 28:39Speaker 7: after David as well, redacts all of the names and
- 28:41Speaker 7: anybody else who has been interviewed regarding this case.
- 28:44Speaker 2: Okay, good, I'm just thinking that through because isn't it true?
- 28:48Speaker 2: Of course he has minor children. I don't know if
- 28:50Speaker 2: they're the victims or not. But when you look at
- 28:52Speaker 2: the background of these child porn images and videos he
- 28:56Speaker 2: shot off himself, raping children allegedly and other acts, you
- 29:01Speaker 2: can tell from the background where the incident took place,
- 29:05Speaker 2: like isn't at his home which would indicate as one
- 29:08Speaker 2: of his own children?
- 29:10Speaker 1: Maybe, but we.
- 29:12Speaker 2: Also know and correct me if I'm wrong, you're the expert.
- 29:16Speaker 2: Weren't there multiple cameras found in and around the church
- 29:20Speaker 2: and isn't the church where he preached associated with a
- 29:24Speaker 2: Christian school for children.
- 29:26Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct.
- 29:27Speaker 7: That was one of the concerns that the Manatee County
- 29:29Speaker 7: Sheriff's Office voiced in their initial press conference.
- 29:32Speaker 1: There is a school right.
- 29:33Speaker 7: By the church, and at the time of the arrest,
- 29:37Speaker 7: the school, or at the time of the press conference rather,
- 29:40Speaker 7: school wasn't in sessions. So all of the cameras were
- 29:42Speaker 7: just found in his church office and at his residence.
- 29:45Speaker 7: And going back to what you said about the alleged
- 29:48Speaker 7: abuse happening in his house, the probable cause affidavit did
- 29:52Speaker 7: confirm that the pictures they cross referenced the pictures and
- 29:56Speaker 7: the bed sheets in the pictures with the bed sheets
- 29:58Speaker 7: in his master bedroom and addition, firm where they were
- 30:02Speaker 7: the same blue bed sheets. So that does lead you
- 30:05Speaker 7: to believe that the abuse did happen in his master bedroom.
- 30:07Speaker 2: Guys, I've got to hand it to Coenbase, who has
- 30:11Speaker 2: just helped the Manatee County Sheriff's Office take an alleged
- 30:16Speaker 2: child predator from behind the pulpit and off the streets.
- 30:21Speaker 2: That's a whole another can of worms. Let me throw
- 30:25Speaker 2: this out there to Stacy Honowitz, veteran States Crimes and
- 30:30Speaker 2: Child abuse prosecutor and author of My Privates Are Private
- 30:34Speaker 2: genius with the penis. Don't touch the bully at school
- 30:37Speaker 2: is really uncool. She's as Stacyhonowitz dot com Stacy, this
- 30:43Speaker 2: is a whole plethora peddor's box, so to speak, of
- 30:47Speaker 2: potential victims, because we now know that there are multiple
- 30:51Speaker 2: secret cameras placed in and around the church and I
- 30:54Speaker 2: guess the school.
- 30:56Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, you know quite often in these
- 30:58Speaker 8: types of cases, that's what you see. We've got the cameras,
- 31:01Speaker 8: We've got many victims, and now you have to go
- 31:04Speaker 8: through the arduous task of trying to figure out who
- 31:06Speaker 8: those victims are. I mean, just because it happened in
- 31:09Speaker 8: his bedroom that that's a great thing that they're able
- 31:11Speaker 8: to narrow that down the bed sheets and everything like that.
- 31:14Speaker 8: But now we have to figure out if it's not
- 31:16Speaker 8: his own kids, who was brought to his house as
- 31:18Speaker 8: a pastor, did he have people over, did he have groups?
- 31:21Speaker 8: But you are starting to narrow it down, but this
- 31:24Speaker 8: becomes a very large task for law enforcement to try
- 31:28Speaker 8: to figure out how many victims and who the victims are.
- 31:32Speaker 8: It's not a surprise, Nancy. I wish I could tell
- 31:34Speaker 8: you that this is a one time offshoot happening. We
- 31:38Speaker 8: see this more and more, and yes, we have to
- 31:42Speaker 8: give a big shout out to coinbase for turning this.
- 31:44Speaker 8: And in the old days it was Walgreens in any
- 31:46Speaker 8: place you tip your film to be developed. If they
- 31:49Speaker 8: saw photographs, then they reported it to law enforcement. Now
- 31:52Speaker 8: we're so advanced with technology, I'm with all of these
- 31:55Speaker 8: horrific websites and the dark web that we have to
- 31:59Speaker 8: try to figure out ways to be able to get
- 32:01Speaker 8: these guys off. This is definitely a great start and
- 32:04Speaker 8: we do have to give them kudos for turning in
- 32:06Speaker 8: this information because now you're going to see just what
- 32:09Speaker 8: this person was all about. Again, to all of your
- 32:12Speaker 8: other guests that have been talking, you know, in prosecuting
- 32:14Speaker 8: these cases, these guys are master manipulators. So putting aside
- 32:18Speaker 8: the looking and viewing child porn in an effort to
- 32:23Speaker 8: get kids ones that are older the age of two,
- 32:26Speaker 8: because at too they can't speak, they're not going to
- 32:28Speaker 8: be able to fight back, They're not going to be
- 32:29Speaker 8: able to say leave me alone.
- 32:31Speaker 1: The constant.
- 32:33Speaker 8: Education of trying to educate kids older about grooming tactics
- 32:39Speaker 8: and getting too close. And just because it's a priest
- 32:41Speaker 8: or just because it's someone who you trust, doesn't mean
- 32:44Speaker 8: that you actually can trust them, because in most cases,
- 32:48Speaker 8: the likelihood of seeing the suspect.
- 32:51Speaker 2: Is the person that you did trust the most. John
- 32:54Speaker 2: Bizerro joining us raven Ceo. John, I've got pre meditation up.
- 33:03Speaker 1: The tail pipe.
- 33:04Speaker 2: I think you know what that means, because not only
- 33:07Speaker 2: do we have him downloading a super secret photo vault app,
- 33:12Speaker 2: he tried to smart everyone by paying for child porn
- 33:18Speaker 2: via crypto currency. I wouldn't even as if I have
- 33:23Speaker 2: time to look at my husband's bank account.
- 33:25Speaker 1: Never how I.
- 33:27Speaker 2: Wouldn't even think it would dawn on me to try
- 33:30Speaker 2: to find out if David is making secret purchases on
- 33:33Speaker 2: a cryptocurrency account. That would not Okay, now that I
- 33:36Speaker 2: thought about it, I'm going to go look for cryptocurrency.
- 33:39Speaker 1: But that said, this is pre meditation out the ying Yang.
- 33:44Speaker 9: Yeah, consciousness of guilt. He knew what he was doing
- 33:46Speaker 9: to start with. I mean he was taking every parameter. Look,
- 33:50Speaker 9: anytime you go on the dark web and you're trying
- 33:52Speaker 9: to hide your IP address, you're doing cryptocurrency you're trying
- 33:55Speaker 9: to hide your bank information, so everything d vault app
- 34:00Speaker 9: he's trying to hide what he actually has, so he's
- 34:03Speaker 9: taking steps to make sure that he doesn't get caught.
- 34:07Speaker 9: And generally speaking, I mean lucky. I know he had said, like,
- 34:11Speaker 9: unquote it was because I had adult porn. There's three
- 34:14Speaker 9: porn sites, so why that doesn't make sense? Right? So
- 34:17Speaker 9: and most likely if you are on tour and you're
- 34:21Speaker 9: using cryptocurrency to purchase something, it's illegal.
- 34:24Speaker 12: Investigators are still working the case against Jonathan ell Wing,
- 34:28Speaker 12: and prosecutors say they could go for the death penalty
- 34:31Speaker 12: under a Florida law which allows the death penalty sentence
- 34:35Speaker 12: for sexual battery of a child under the age of twelve.
- 34:38Speaker 12: In Florida, juries only need eight of twelve jurors to
- 34:41Speaker 12: agree on the death penalty, as opposed to unanimous juries
- 34:44Speaker 12: in other parts of the country.
- 34:45Speaker 2: Jordan Littwell are joining US investigative reporter and anchor WWSBABC seven. Jordan,
- 34:51Speaker 2: have you ever been to the zoo? I have, yes, Okay,
- 34:54Speaker 2: have you been to the snake house?
- 34:58Speaker 7: I have a lot a big better snake I've been there.
- 35:01Speaker 2: I hate them, but you notice that they're always behind
- 35:05Speaker 2: glass so some idiot doesn't try to like reach out
- 35:07Speaker 2: and grab one. That's how I feel every time I
- 35:11Speaker 2: look at this guy at the pulpit preaching.
- 35:15Speaker 1: It's like the snake house. I am looking.
- 35:20Speaker 2: At it, but it also makes me sick looking at him.
- 35:25Speaker 2: The sound we're playing the video of him preaching gives
- 35:32Speaker 2: all Christians, all of us struggling Christians, a black eye.
- 35:36Speaker 2: But what about his family? What are they enduring?
- 35:42Speaker 1: Listen?
- 35:42Speaker 12: The former pastor's wife, Crystal, has been devastated by the charges.
- 35:46Speaker 12: Manatee County Sheriff's Office information officer Randy Warren tells The
- 35:50Speaker 12: Daily Mail. I don't know how much she may be
- 35:52Speaker 12: suspected something was wrong, but everyone involved here has said
- 35:56Speaker 12: how much she was surprised and devastated. Warren also says,
- 35:59Speaker 12: with everything we've collected in the search for additional images,
- 36:02Speaker 12: we're going to have a final number of up to
- 36:04Speaker 12: twenty five charges. We've got production of child pornography, capital
- 36:08Speaker 12: sexual battery, and lout and lascivious molestation.
- 36:11Speaker 2: I mean, the reality is Stacy Hanos very briefly, every
- 36:16Speaker 2: time you transmit or send a child porn image, that's
- 36:20Speaker 2: another felony. Every time you transmit it, every time you
- 36:25Speaker 2: download it. Much let's create it as this guy's accused
- 36:28Speaker 2: of doing. So, it could very well be more than
- 36:30Speaker 2: twenty five charges if they want to parse it that
- 36:33Speaker 2: way correct.
- 36:34Speaker 8: Each one is its own count anytime, any If you
- 36:37Speaker 8: have fifteen pictures and you're possessing fifteen pictures of child porn,
- 36:40Speaker 8: it could be fifteen counts if you're transmitting it transmitted
- 36:43Speaker 8: fifteen times. Just like you said, each one is its
- 36:46Speaker 8: own individual count.
- 36:48Speaker 2: And a Sonoda joining us child sex Whob's grooming expert
- 36:52Speaker 2: and author of dut Groom. You can't let your guard
- 36:57Speaker 2: down as a parent. You can't let your guard down.
- 37:01Speaker 2: If it's the pastor, or the youth minister, or the
- 37:06Speaker 2: guy selling doughnuts at Krispy Krame or the grocery store
- 37:10Speaker 2: check out guy that gives your children a set of
- 37:13Speaker 2: crayons every time you come there. You can't let your
- 37:16Speaker 2: guard down. And this guy proves it well.
- 37:18Speaker 1: Nancy.
- 37:19Speaker 11: It's easy to get caught up in our fear and
- 37:21Speaker 11: are worry about everybody, because, let's be honest, sexual predators
- 37:26Speaker 11: are everywhere. I recommend that we show up and that
- 37:28Speaker 11: we look up and we're observing the individuals who are
- 37:32Speaker 11: coming in contact with our kids. That churches who talk
- 37:35Speaker 11: and denominations who talk about the potential for child sexual
- 37:39Speaker 11: abuse are less likely to have instances of child sexual abuse.
- 37:44Speaker 11: Are there programs to train the leadership within your church?
- 37:49Speaker 11: Are there programs to educate parents? What about educating kids
- 37:53Speaker 11: on an age appropriate level about what grooming and child
- 37:56Speaker 11: sexual abuse might look like Every individual, then a church
- 38:01Speaker 11: setting should be co teaching and co leading. There is
- 38:05Speaker 11: no reason for individuals to be alone with a minor
- 38:09Speaker 11: within a religious context.
- 38:10Speaker 2: Karen start very quickly, a lot of speculation. Did the
- 38:14Speaker 2: wife know? I don't know if she knew or not,
- 38:17Speaker 2: or suspected if she did, suspect or did know?
- 38:22Speaker 1: Rot in hell woman. If she didn't know, it.
- 38:25Speaker 2: Could be because he so masterfully hid his acts. He
- 38:30Speaker 2: hid it from a whole congregation. So you know, when
- 38:34Speaker 2: you love someone, you very often have on blinders. You
- 38:37Speaker 2: don't see tell tale signs.
- 38:39Speaker 10: And that happens to a lot, and you hear a
- 38:41Speaker 10: lot where the wife is saying I would never have known,
- 38:45Speaker 10: and all of it is intentional. This monster made sure
- 38:50Speaker 10: that he had this kind of job. Nancy, this is
- 38:52Speaker 10: what he wanted so he could hide behind it. He
- 38:55Speaker 10: had a family.
- 38:56Speaker 1: I'm not surprised.
- 38:57Speaker 10: I'm sure none of your guests are, priest that he
- 39:01Speaker 10: looked like he was somebody trustworthy and a great character
- 39:05Speaker 10: because he was hiding Masterfleet a monster.
- 39:09Speaker 2: And Jordan Littweller, I got so many more questions for you.
- 39:13Speaker 2: Jordan joining us from WWSB, did you tell me earlier
- 39:17Speaker 2: that this guy came from Hill's Song the Very Troubled Congregation?
- 39:24Speaker 7: Yeah, it did look like that was in his history.
- 39:26Speaker 7: I think as an associate pastor there, I believe maybe
- 39:29Speaker 7: that was his second church that he was at after
- 39:31Speaker 7: graduating from a Baptist University in two thousand and four.
- 39:35Speaker 1: Wow.
- 39:36Speaker 2: I believe there will be more charges and we will
- 39:39Speaker 2: all meet again as it relates to former pastor now
- 39:44Speaker 2: child porn defendant Jonathan Edward Elwing. But if you have
- 39:50Speaker 2: had contact with this guy's very important. If you know
- 39:53Speaker 2: or think you know any information regarding this case, even
- 39:58Speaker 2: a potential whichness or victim, please call Mantatee County Crime
- 40:03Speaker 2: Stoppers eight six six six three four eight four seven seven.
- 40:09Speaker 2: We can only stop child predators if we can catch them.
- 40:15Speaker 2: Thank you to our guest, for being with us, Nancy
- 40:18Speaker 2: Grace signing off goodbye friend,