Former My Faith Votes CEO Jason Yates, a prominent conservative Christian activist, has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, months after his arrest.
According to court documents, Yates submitted a petition to enter a guilty plea on Monday with a district court in McLeod County, Minnesota.
Yates pleaded guilty to two of the eight felony counts of possession of child pornography that he had been charged with last year, in return for the dismissal of the other six counts.
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“I now make no claim that I am innocent,” stated the form that Yates signed. “That in view of all above facts and considerations I wish to enter a plea of guilty.”
Additionally, the district court signed a form on Tuesday releasing Yates on his own recognizance under multiple conditions, including that he keep the court informed of his home address, avoid any contact with females under the age of 14, make all court dates, not possess or use any pornographic material, and install software on his electronic devices that blocks access to pornographic material.
Yates is next scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 29 for sentencing. He is also required to meet with the Department of Corrections to have a pre-sentence investigation and to undergo a “psychosexual evaluation” before being sentenced.
My Faith Votes was founded in 2015 to mobilize millions of conservative Christians to vote in elections. Dr. Ben Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon and conservative activist, previously served as the organization’s honorary chairman.
Aside from his work with My Faith Votes, Yates also occasionally contributed syndicated op-eds to The Christian Post, with his last column being published in August 2022.
Last October, Yates was charged with eight felony counts of possession of child pornography. Each charge carries a punishment of as much as 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
According to records, a witness told authorities in July of last year that a family member of Yates “accidentally discovered” a hard drive that contained child sexual abuse material in his office.
“The contents included over 100 sexually explicit images of children,” explained the district court document, with many of the photos on the drive believed to be of minors younger than 10.
Yates was listed as the CEO of My Faith Votes on the group’s IRS Form 990 filed in 2023, with entries on the website having been published under his byline as recently as July of last year.
By the time of his arrest, however, Yates was not listed on the organization’s website as part of the leadership. Rather, the “About” page identified former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the current U.S. ambassador to Israel, as honorary national chairman and Sealy Yates, a lawyer related to Jason Yates, as founder and president.
