Christian musician, who sang the national anthem for Trump at 2022 rally, is facing felony child pornography charges

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/jon-paul-sheptock-church-musician-arrested-b2849918.html

Jon Paul Sheptock, 49, served as the worship minister at the First Montgomery Baptist Church in Texas before these shocking allegations came to light.

The Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Unit eventually caught up with the suspect while he was working at a local women’s prison where he served as a minister.

At a Donald Trump rally in January 2022, Sheptock was recruited to sing the national anthem before later posing with the president and his son for pictures.

873 points · 94 comments · view on lemmy.world

94 Comments

spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 141 pts · 299d (3 replies)

Release the Epstein files.

henfredemars@infosec.pub · 15 pts · 299d

Release the -philes you say?

Xella@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 299d (1 reply)

I like the one that says "Guard Our Peodophiles"

FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 4 pts · 298d

Oh you mean Ted Cruz?

ThePantser@sh.itjust.works · 66 pts · 299d

Add this to the other pile of Trump posing with fellow pedophile images.

JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 61 pts · 299d

tanisnikana@lemmy.world · 56 pts · 299d

It’s always the ones I most suspect.

Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 51 pts · 299d (2 replies)

Not a drag queen.

Brown5500@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 299d (1 reply)

I bet he had a trans roommate at some point

/S

pleaseletmein@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 298d

His cousin’s hairdresser’s sister’s iguana’s vet is trans. Case closed.

aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 45 pts · 299d (1 reply)
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arin@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 299d

Projection from the conservatives.

mavu@discuss.tchncs.de · 38 pts · 299d (3 replies)

What is it with those people?

Is there some kind of competition to be the most terrible person possible?

eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 19 pts · 299d

Yes. That's the entire point of MAGA.

kewjo@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 299d (1 reply)

i would guess a lot of them make connections over the networks that trade in that kind of material.

zarniwoop@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 299d

Yep. It’s called “church”.

Eldritch@piefed.world · 36 pts · 299d

Won't somebody think of the children? Eew, not like that!

Dionysus@leminal.space · 31 pts · 299d (7 replies)

This is the episode of "Where are they now?" That we needed.

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 299d (3 replies)

I want to see this film

Laser@feddit.org · 9 pts · 299d

Don't think I could watch through beans being thrown at him

missfrizzle@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 299d (1 reply)

for the original musical score by DALDO, if nothing else!

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 298d

Beans Aren’t The Worst Thing has helped countless people through having beans thrown at them.

pyre@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d (2 replies)

is this obvious plant?

Railing5132@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 299d (1 reply)

It's gotta be... Right‽

I'm really not sure...

bcgm3@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d

100% legit, and John Paul Sheptock is the executive producer.

Doomsider@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 299d (9 replies)

Why are all the straight male Christian conservatives trying to fuck children!? WTF is wrong with them.

chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 299d (7 replies)

As someone who was forced to grow up in this Baptist bullshit: It's the absolutely insane level of sexual repression. Sex is a bad word. Don't talk about it. Can't even go dancing, if you're Baptist, because it "might lead to sinful contact between dancers" or "impure thoughts".

Can't drink either. You might "cause your brother to stumble". It's a running joke that Baptists go to bars in the next town over, because nobody knows them there, so they won't be judged.

Can't go to anything worse than a PG movie. Can't learn in school about evolution. Can't go to sex Ed class in school and have to be opted out. Can't be friends with non-Christians because "they're able to be influenced against you by the devil at any time" like they're a Devil Manchurian Candidate.

Christianity in America fucking sucks, but Baptists are near the top of being the fucking worst.

Doomsider@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 299d (1 reply)

I have studied religions my whole life trying to understand what is really going on. I have always been open minded, but my conclusion is simply it is about control.

My father was a black sheep Mormon so I am very familiar with the pitfalls of their beliefs. On my grandfather's death bed his sons gathered round him to pray. He pointed at my father and said he was not worthy to pray over him. Othering is always an integral part of Christianity.

The worst thing about religion is it steals the work of man to use for its goals. How many people thank God for surviving cancer when it was their fellow man that cured them. Religion is also insidious because it takes credit for morality when it clearly exists without it.

It reminds me of any loser ideology that tries to claim it does things when it has no real power and claims credit when it is not due. Everyone arguing over what Skydaddy is the best imaginary companion is beyond ridiculous.

chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 298d

Well said.

fxleak@lemmings.world · 1 pts · 298d (4 replies)

Maybe it's just me, but I once heard that "baptist" is almost code for "black," in the sense that most baptists churches tend to be occupied primarily by people of color.

This is just what someone else has told me, so it seems a bit odd that stereotypically black churches would be producing white pedophiles.

4am@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 298d

I don’t think of black people when I think Baptist, but I certainly think of the south, and with the black population being higher there it’s more likely that there are black congregations.

But honestly it’s not close enough to being a “black-only thing” that you could use Baptist as slang for black.

Schmoo@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 298d

I grew up southern baptist and it was an all-white church. I think I remember a time when there was 1 black family in attendance because they had just moved here. They didn't come back for a second time. The southern baptist church split from the northern baptist church over slavery. Guess which side of that issue the southern baptist church was on?

hateisreality@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 298d

There are many forms of Baptist. The white ones are the worst

chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 298d

Southern Baptist and Reformed/Calvinist Baptist are VERY different things.

arin@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 299d

Idk if they are still straight when they diddle pastor boys

floofloof@lemmy.ca · 25 pts · 299d (1 reply)

So which government department will he be given after the pardon?

arin@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d

Secretary of foster care

Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 25 pts · 299d

Say it with me now

Grand. Old. Pedophiles.

Spacehooks@reddthat.com · 22 pts · 299d (2 replies)

After the defendant (Sheptock) sent the image of the victim, he told her that he wanted more explicit images of her,” the affidavit read.

“The defendant (Sheptock) then sent her a video depicting someone being physically assaulted, accompanied by a statement implying that he did not want that to happen to her.”

Dude is mega POS

Railing5132@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 299d (1 reply)

And a MAGA POS.

RidgeDweller@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 299d

theyrethesamepicture.gif

ThePantser@sh.itjust.works · 22 pts · 299d

PP_BOY_@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 299d

Every time

Formfiller@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 299d

That’s on brand

ohlaph@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 298d (2 replies)

I sense a theme with the GOP. Church leaders getting caught raping, youth pastor pedophiles, famous figures and their vast cp collections.

Is the entire gop just a group of pedophiles in a trench coat?

4am@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 298d

Always has been 🔫👨‍🚀

tired_n_bored@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 298d

"Funny" how the GOP helped spread misinformation about a secret Democrat elite abusing children. It has always been projection.

Gerudo@lemmy.zip · 21 pts · 299d

Yet again, not a drag queen. Color me shocked!

BMW_stick@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 299d (3 replies)

I'm sure this was Biden's fault.

Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 299d (1 reply)

I'll never forgive Biden for the time he shit in my pants. This guy should be outraged.

Notyou@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 298d

This you?

MourningDove@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 299d
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BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz · 19 pts · 299d

Why would the Party of Protecting Jeffrey Epstein and having Unidentified Masked Armed Men KIDNAPPING Children be full of Pedophiles? It DOESNT make Sense!

aesthelete@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 298d

G eriatrics

O ligarchs

P edophiles

HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 299d

All religions are a mental illness, and often come with comorbidities.

z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml · 16 pts · 299d (1 reply)

If you're a White Republican/MAGA/Christian Male, I'm just going to assume you're a pedophile now. The probabilities are just too high.

Release The Epstein Files...oh, and, y'know, actually DO something about it afterwards....

EDIT: spelling

damnedfurry@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d

If you’re a White Republican/MAGA/Christian Male, I’m just going to assume you’re a pedophile now.

So if everyone who's over 7 feet tall is male, by your logic, everyone who's male is over 7 feet tall.

Hopefully that makes it obvious just how flawed this reasoning is.

The probabilities are just too high.

Mainstream media is the last place you want to learn probability from. It's the reason that over decades of violent crime rates decreasing, the public is led to believe that it's been increasing that entire time.

TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 299d (2 replies)

It's truly remarkable how about once a week we see a headline like this regarding a conservative. For left leaning people it's more like once every 3-6 months.

damnedfurry@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d (1 reply)

Have you considered that the media you are (or allow yourself to be) exposed to, plays a part in that?

As an example, this took literal seconds to find, and it's an article from this month:

A North Carolina state House member has been charged with sex-related crimes involving a teenager earlier this year, court records show.

Six-term Democratic state Rep. Cecil Brockman, 41, of High Point, was arrested Wednesday on two counts each of statutory sexual offense with a child and taking indecent liberties with a child, according to a magistrate's order detailing his arrest.

I bet you've never heard of this person, or ever saw this article, right?

Before I explicitly looked, I hadn't either. But it's not that it was hidden, really, just that it's not the data the algorithms put in front of my eyes, without me having to go seek it. Don't underestimate the impact these algorithms have on what you're made aware of, and how that controlled exposure can shape, or warp, your sense of reality.

I'll never forget that graph that showed the comparison of how much violent crime had decreased over the years in the US, juxtaposed with public perception of violent crime rates literally rising in inverse proportion over the same period of time, thanks to mainstream media sensationalism. Ever since that day, I've tried to keep myself from making assumptions about how common something is, based on how often it's reported on, especially when it comes to controversial/shocking subjects like these, as those are the ones where there is the most temptation for an outlet to sensationalize.

TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 298d

You raise a good point.

According to the National Women’s Defense League, which advocates for sexual harassment policies in statehouses and keeps its own count, Republicans and Democrats are nearly equally accused and 94% of those overall are men.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/147-lawmakers-in-44-states-accused-of-sexual-harassment-or-misconduct-since-2017

AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space · 12 pts · 299d

The writers need to get some new material. They’re starting to repeat themselves.

xpey@piefed.social · 12 pts · 299d

Big surprise. /s

SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 299d (1 reply)

His alleged victim also claimed in the court records that she was concerned about coming forward “due to her parents’ strong religious beliefs,” which she thought would lead to an adverse reaction to her taking a nude picture of herself.

This is how predators keep their victims silent: exploit their embarrassment. It's easy to say "Well, they shouldn't have sent that in the first place" but that's blaming the victim and not addressing the issue. A minor was taken advantage of and an adult received satisfaction from it. If this happened to you or someone you know, speak out. Take the power away from the predators. The embarrassment is only temporary because, in the end, it's your well-being that matters.

Zak@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 298d

It’s easy to say “Well, they shouldn’t have sent that in the first place”

The fact that kids don't make good decisions when placed in adult situations is exactly why we have laws to punish adults who exploit them.

slickgoat@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 299d (2 replies)

Of course it is. CP is a mandatory line item for a typical MAGA resume.

damnedfurry@lemmy.world · -7 pts · 299d (1 reply)

Is this kind of absurd hyperbole really productive?

the_radness@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 299d

Not unless they also mention racism, transphobia and homophobia as the other line items.

rockettaco37@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 299d

Another Republican pedophile? Color me fuckin shocked, eh?

tired_n_bored@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 298d

Oh look another dangerous transgender woman! No wait, it's always either some Pastor or some Trump-affiliated person.

Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 298d (1 reply)

Guardians

Of

Paedophiles

reddifuge@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 298d

Groomers On Parade. Group Of Pedophiles

NABDad@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 299d (1 reply)

It might be easier at this point to list the Republicans who aren't pedophiles and sexual predators.

Edit:

There.

I think that's all of them.

Xella@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 299d

What's crazy is I think the only one that isn't a sexual predator is.. and I really hate typing this bitches name.. Marjorie Taylor Greene

SlippiHUD@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 299d

Sometimes I feel like making a conspiracy board pf every pedophile Trump has given money to in the past, but I feel it's too big a board to build. It might crush my house.

altphoto@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 299d

So...is that priest listed in the Epstein files? Can we see those? Or is the guy innocent so we can't see that?

SaraTonin@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 299d (1 reply)

Would it save time at this point if, rather than reporting on every Republican paedophile, we just reported every time it was revealed that a Republican wasn’t a paedophile?

floofloof@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 299d

Do you want to make all the journalists unemployed?

fossilesque@mander.xyz · 8 pts · 299d (2 replies)
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damnedfurry@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 299d

Come on, not all singers molest children.

explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 299d

Because diddlers will go after whichever demographics allow the most diddling.

beejboytyson@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 299d

The repedocan party

limonfiesta@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 299d (1 reply)

He has no arms...

Given the charges, that leaves me with some additional questions...

burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 299d

The questions shouldn't be too hard. There was once, in the vaudeville scene, a girl who brought the crowds flocking to see her. They watched her eat, drink, put on makeup and shoes. They didn't do it because she was lewd, standing nude, nor because of her words and witty banter... they did it because she had no arms and was able to do it all with her feet.

I could see a setup to type and use a mouse with feet, if not one of those head devices with a laser pointer.

UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 299d

He will be pardoned like all of trumps other child trafficking friends

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 299d

Don't worry about him, he's not dangerous. He's unarmed.

myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 299d

More winning for the GOP!!

acme401@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 299d

Pedophiles, Republicans, and Texas

SendMePhotos@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 299d

When will he be pardoned?

Juice@midwest.social · 5 pts · 298d

Same shit, different pedophile

miguel@fedia.io · 4 pts · 299d
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st33lb0ne@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 298d

That seems on brand for MAGA

jjjalljs@ttrpg.network · 4 pts · 299d

Thinking about the pedocon theory post again : https://www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-talk-about-pedocon-theory/

Wilco@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 299d

Yea, that checks out.

ieGod@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 299d

Surprise surprise.

damnedfurry@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d (1 reply)

I feel like the fact that he was a church minister is much more relevant information for the headline. Who gives a shit that he sang a song at a Trump rally once, seriously? Clickbait slop.

explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 299d

It establishes notability. There's a lot more ministers than Trump performers.

canajac@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 298d (1 reply)

Of course, he's a hypocritical religious person who hides behind the bible BS he learned from mommy and daddy.

reddifuge@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 298d

Not hypocrisy, the bible supports pedophilia. It's disgusting backwards ass bullshit and half remembered ghost stories written by inbred winos.