Samael — 7 months ago(August 12, 2025 03:23 PM)

Youth pastor arrested after allegedly sexually abusing at least 6 teens
Aug. 11, 2025, 6:43 PM CDT
By Elizabeth Chuck and Mike Hixenbaugh
Thomas Pinkerton Jr. used to tell children in his youth group in Maryland that it was normal for a pastor to kiss boys on the lips, because that’s how Jesus greeted his disciples, according to an arrest warrant made public last week.
Kissing was just the beginning, several men from Pinkerton’s former youth group told police.
Pinkerton, 52, a youth minister known as Pastor Tommy, is being held without bond following accusations that he sexually abused six teens from 2006 to 2010 while working at Central Christian Church, an Assemblies of God church in Baltimore County. He was extradited from his home state of Georgia to Maryland last Wednesday to face 24 felony and misdemeanor counts in Baltimore County. His attorney, Justin Hollimon, said he pleaded not guilty.
An arrest warrant said the alleged abuse included inappropriate touching and kissing of six teenagers in Maryland, who ranged in age from 13 to 19. The warrant said the alleged abuse happened at the church and at Pinkerton’s former home in Maryland. A seventh man reported abuse by Pinkerton in Georgia, according to the warrant, and that report was referred to authorities there, officials in Baltimore County said.
Detectives believe there may be more victims and have asked anyone with information to come forward.
“How this vile, disgusting, and immoral behavior has become normalized… is something our descendants will study.”