A Florida pastor associated with several churches in the Bunnell area was arrested this Friday and charged with the molestation of a 15-year-old boy, FlagerLive reports.
Police responding to a report of loud music being played allegedly discovered 48-year-old Alphonso Joseph in a vehicle with a 15-year-old boy. When the officer shined his light inside the vehicle, both of the occupants were pulling their pants up.
The boy reportedly told police that he connected with Joseph on a dating app the same day and Joseph later picked him up, then drove him to an area near a golf course where Joseph performed oral sex on him.
Joseph tried to convince police that he and the boy were “just chilling” and that he had only taken his shirt off because he was hot. However, he admitted that he met the boy on the gay dating app Grindr. He claimed that the boy told him he was 18.
Joseph is the founder of a church called Vision Cathedral according to his Facebook page, though no such entity was registered with the state Division of Corporations. He was also listed as a principal with Vision Soul to Win Crusade Ministries, a Palm Coast ministry established in 2005 and still active. He is also listed as a principal with Vision Covenant Connection Inc.
“This sick and twisted individual preyed on a young child,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, according to News4Jax. “Great work by our deputies and detectives on arresting this child molester that took advantage of a child. This is another prime example of ‘See Something, Say Something,’ well in this case it was ‘hear something, say something’ worked and we thank the concerned citizen who alerted the Sheriff’s Office of suspicious activity.”