Officials at Redemption Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, confirmed that their senior pastor, Neal Creecy, has resigned following his recent arrest for luring a child online for a sex act.
“As soon as he got out of jail within an hour or two, he contacted us on a thread message and confessed. He offered his resignation when we met with him later that morning. We had to accept his resignation immediately,” W. Don Seaborg, president of pastoral support for Redemption Church, told 8NewsNow last Friday.
Neal, 46, started Redemption Church in October 2018, and has been involved with church planting and pastoral ministry for nearly three decades, according to his bio on Audible. He is also listed as the co-founder and vice president of Global Church Planting Partners and has taught at several seminaries across the U.S.
According to a release from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Neal, who holds a Master’s of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in missiology from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, was among eight men arrested for “luring a child with a computer for a sex act” during a two-week multi-agency operation targeting child sex predators.
A police report cited by Fox 5 Las Vegas said Creecy communicated with a covert employee posing as a 14-year-old boy on a gay hookup app called Sniffies. The messages reportedly “turned sexual in nature,” and the pastor agreed to meet for sexual activity. He was then arrested on Aug. 7.
Creecy allegedly admitted to investigators that he understood he was meeting up with a 14-year-old boy for sex based on his communication and told them, “I’m so sorry.”
Global Church Planting Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Creecy’s arrest when contacted by The Christian Post on Wednesday.
The other men arrested during the sting are David Wonnacott-Yahnke, 40; Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38; Jose Alberto Perez-Torres, 35; Aniket Brajeshkumar Sadani, 23; James Ramon Reddick, 23; Ramon Manuel Parra Valenzuela, 29; and John Charles Duncan, 49.
“We would like to remind parents to discuss with their children the dangers of engaging with strangers online. Parents are encouraged to routinely monitor their children’s activity on social media and other online applications to prevent them from becoming victims of a child sex predator. This operation was conducted as part of the ongoing efforts to reduce violent crime and protect children in our community,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said.
“Anyone who may have been a victim of any of these subjects or has information about their crimes, is urged to contact the LVMPD Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force by phone at 702-828-3111. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555, or on the internet at www.crimestoppersofnv.com.”
Creecy was released on a $10,000 bond. He is set to appear on Sept. 2 at Henderson Justice Court at 9 a.m.
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