A former intern with the Oklahoma-based multisite church Life.Church has been arrested and charged with possessing child pornography.
Austin Sewell, a 25-year-old resident of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, was arrested last month by federal authorities and charged with “Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography” and “Possession of Child Pornography in Indian Country.”
According to a criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, Sewell “received or distributed at least one video of a minor male victim engaging in sexually explicit conduct and possessed files of child pornography within Indian Country” earlier this year.
Authorities received a tip in late June that an individual believed to be Sewell was posting “apparent child pornography” on an account with Kik, a messaging app popular with young people.
The Kik account showed multiple videos displaying “prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct” and another involving an adult male, according to the complaint.
An investigation found 30 images and videos associated with the cyber tip that authorities received, as well as several anime images of child sex abuse material.
While tracking down the owner of the Kik account, authorities discovered that Sewell had logged into an IP address at Life.Church, though it is not stated in the complaint whether he had viewed child pornography while at the church.
The investigation found that Sewell had worked at the Midtown Tulsa location of Life.Church as an operations intern, reportedly starting in January, and his social media has listed him as a current employee.
According to the complaint, Sewell told investigators that he did it “because he was bored due to not having anyone to talk to” and not for reasons of “sexual gratification.”
In a statement to the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based News on 6, Life.Church staff said they were “shocked and deeply concerned” by the news of the arrest.
“While he is a former intern and was no longer serving when this came to light, we maintained our high standards for safety prior to and during his operations internship, including conducting a background check and ensuring that he served alongside other adults,” stated the church.
“He is restricted from serving in any capacity in the future. We take the safety of our church community extremely seriously and will continue to prioritize the security and well-being of everyone in our care.”
Life.Church also stated that the only thing that Sewell had accessed from the IP address of the church was his personal email, according to News on 6.
In 2022, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation placed Kik on its “Dirty Dozen” list of entities that allegedly profit off sexual exploitation and fail to protect underage users from sexually graphic content.
By 2023, NCOSE reported that Kik had implemented nearly all of the advocacy group’s recommended safety standards, including monitoring chats for sexually graphic material, requiring users to be at least 18, and automatically turning on the explicit content filter for all accounts.
