A father and son who were both on staff for a Baptist church in a suburb east of Dallas have both been charged for sexual assault of minors who were members of the congregation.
Steven Aaron Winn, 33, served as an assistant youth pastor at the Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite, and worked as a construction inspector in the Public Works Department for the city, before he was terminated shortly before his arrest, on February 22.
Winn was charged in Dallas County with three counts of sexual assault of a child, and days later was charged with three additional counts of sexual assault of a child.
Winn reportedly had a sexual relationship with a female student at the church’s Christian academy for more than a year, starting when the girl was 15.
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His father, 65-year-old Larry Allen Winn, was arrested on March 1 and charged with one count of sexual assault of a child, after an interview with the victim, who is now 19 and was 16 at the time.
Police have confirmed that the two teenage girls are different individuals.
Larry Winn was the church’s business director according to NBC5, and ran the bus ministry, providing free rides to children to and from Sunday school and services, according to The Dallas News.
A spokesperson for the church previously stated Steven Winn was a volunteer, not an employee, but had no other comment.
The church made headlines in 2011 when senior pastor Matt Jarrell was arrested on a rape charge in West Virginia. He hanged himself in his cell two days later.
Police are asking anyone with information about other potential victims of either man to call 972-285-6336.
