ROGERS, Ark. — A former Rogers youth pastor, who was accused of sending nude pictures of himself to a minor, took a plea deal on Sept. 10, 2024, according to court documents.
Kevin Madden, 34, originally faced two counts of sexual indecency with a child and engaging a child in sexually explicit conduct from an incident in April 2021.
Before Madden's trial was set to take place on Sept. 19, the state agreed to dismiss two charges and reduce one sexual indecency charge to misdemeanor harassment.
Documents say Madden pleaded guilty to harassment. He is facing a one-year suspended sentence and a no-contact order with the victims.
He was arrested on May 7, 2021, for allegedly sending nude pictures of himself to a minor and requesting another minor to send nude photos to him.
On April 30, 2021, a member of the Discover Church in Rogers, which is now located in Pea Ridge, reported a crime involving a minor. The church member told police that a child from the church had come forward saying that the youth pastor had sent sexually explicit pictures to her and that he had sent inappropriate text messages to another minor in the church.
During the investigation, detectives learned that Madden had allegedly tried to kiss one of the girls at a church event and that he harassed her while she was at work. The girl also accused Madden of sending nude photos of himself showering to her over Snapchat. That other girl stated that Madden asked her to send him nude photos.
A detective spoke with Madden at his home, where he initially denied the allegations against him. He said he had made mistakes with the juveniles but that he had not touched them. Madden went on to say what started as talks about one of the girl's relationships and boyfriends had turned into inappropriate conversations. He then reportedly admitted to sending nude photos of him in the shower.
Madden denied asking the other female to send him nude photos, according to an affidavit.
Following the allegations against Madden, Discover Church released a statement where they said they had fired Madden from his position as youth pastor.
"On Monday, May 3, we were told that the allegations seemed to be valid, but the detective could not give us a definitive answer at that time. On Friday, we were officially made aware that all allegations were true. At that moment we immediately moved to terminate his employment here at Discover Church."
In November 2023, Discover Church moved from North 2nd Street in Rogers to 577 Weston Street in Pea Ridge.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.