Former youth minister Lindsey Whiteside, who was recently sentenced in a controversial decision to just three years of house arrest and seven years of probation for child sexual abuse in DeSoto County, Mississippi, has been rearrested on new charges by federal authorities.
Whiteside’s new arrest follows Special Circuit Court Judge Andrew Howorth’s recusal from the case amid public backlash and a strong rebuke from the District Attorney for DeSoto, Matthew Barton, over the light sentence Whiteside received.
DeSoto County Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle said at a press conference Thursday that Whiteside was arrested and charged by federal authorities with transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity.
“I want to emphasize that crimes against children will not be tolerated in DeSoto County. We are committed to pursuing justice and protecting the most vulnerable members of our community: our children,” Tuggle said. “The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office will continue to protect our citizens and ensure that those who prey on our children are held accountable.”
Whiteside was a former youth minister with Getwell Church in Hernando, Mississippi.
Court documents cited by Action News 5 allege that Whiteside, now 27, knowingly had sex with an underage girl under her guardianship between May 14 and Nov. 6, 2024, in the first case.
“She used the gospel of Jesus Christ as a weapon. She used the vulnerabilities of a child who was going through personal struggles to gain access and manipulate an entire congregation. But even worse and more specifically she manipulated a family through an undeniable pattern of abuse that started with several months of grooming and then several months of prolonged and repeated sexual abuse in the worst type of manner,” Barton argued.
“I cannot summarize the entirety of this abuse in a short press conference, [but] suffice it to say, I sincerely believe that if this was perpetrated by a man against a young woman that we would have seen something akin to 20 years in prison,” he added. “I think that she is a benefactor of a very wrong double standard in society.”
Prosecutors said Whiteside’s victim was 14 and 15 years old when the sexual abuse happened, and Barton said there was a mountain of evidence against the former youth pastor.
Tuggle said at the press conference on Thursday that Whiteside is currently in federal custody and a federal judge will decide if she will remain detained pending her trial.
“My message is this, have faith in what we do. We will be relentless in our pursuit of justice, and I’ll say again, justice will always prevail,” Tuggle said.
Wesley Marjay, who lives in Senatobia, told Fox 13 that he didn’t believe the initial sentence Whiteside received for child sexual abuse was enough.
“It’s especially obscene and I don’t condone it at all,” he said of the house arrest, saying he was encouraged by the new federal charge.
Samuel Franklin, who lives in Hernando, agrees.
“I think that’s what needs to happen,” Franklin said of the federal charges. “We have to be held accountable. Whatever we do we have to give an account of it.”
He said when it comes to abusing minors, especially by an authority figure, “we should be better than that.”
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