Volunteer at Baptist camp faces child-pornography charges
By Michael Leathers
COLUMBIA, Ill. (ABP) – A volunteer camp leader arrested for child
pornography and indecent solicitation of a child met both of his
victims through a camp sponsored by the Illinois Baptist State
Association, according to police.
While no crime is alleged to have
occurred at the association’s Super Summer camp in June 2005, police
are urging parents whose teenage children attended the camp to talk
to their children and check their computers to see if the accused
20-year-old man, Aaron Niles of Waterloo, an Illinois suburb of St.
Louis, had any contact with them. His screen names are loverboyniles
and godrocks30.
“There may be no more victims; there
may be 10 more victims,” Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards said.
Niles allegedly made contact with the
two 13- or 14-year-old girls at the IBSA-sponsored camp. Police say
he communicated with the teens some time later on the Internet. He
allegedly solicited the girls to pose for partially nude photos and
to perform a sex act in April and May 2006, almost a year after the
camp. All the abuse occurred over the Internet, police say; no
sexual contact was involved.
Officials of First Baptist Church of
Columbia, Ill., where Niles attended church, contacted police in
June 2006 after learning of Niles' contact with the alleged victims.
Although all three were affilated with the same church, the girls
apparently were not acquainted with Niles before the camp. The
church has been cooperating with the investigation since then,
Edwards said.
The IBSA chose to contact less than
one-fifth of the 67 churches that sent students to Super Summer in
2005, citing a concern to be “cautious without being unnecessarily
alarming,” according to Marty King, IBSA associate executive
director. Only churches that sent 13- and 14-year-old students were
notified because Niles was the team leader for a group in that age
range. Twenty-eight of camp’s 210 students were 13- and
14-year-olds.
Most of the church contacts were made
by phone in January, more than two weeks after the IBSA learned
about the charges. King said a “handful” of pastors were notified
before Christmas. Because Niles was in custody, IBSA officials
didn’t “feel a real urgency” to make calls sooner, he said.
However, Niles, who pleaded not
guilty, was released after posting bond on Dec. 13, the day after
his arrest, according to the Monroe County Circuit Clerk’s office.
He was charged with three counts of child pornography and one count
of indecent solicitation of a child. A preliminary hearing has been
set for Feb. 8.
Meanwhile, police are combing Niles’
computer and continuing their investigation to see if additional
charges are warranted. Parents can contact the Columbia Police
Department at (618) 281-5151.
The IBSA holds its Super Summer camps
at Greenville College, a Christian college in Greenville, Ill.,
about an hour from St. Louis.
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