A prominent Pentecostal preacher and former televangelist was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with child sex crimes in Oklahoma.
Joe Campbell, aged 68, was apprehended by U.S. Marshals in Missouri and is currently detained in Greene County Jail. He awaits extradition to Oklahoma, where he is charged with first-degree rape and committing lewd or indecent acts with a child under 16, according to KYTV.
The charges follow allegations from five women who claim they were sexually abused by Campbell during their childhood in the 1970s and 1980s. Additionally, nine other individuals, including four men, reported to KYTV that Campbell exposed them to pornography, made inappropriate comments, or engaged in inappropriate physical contact during the same period.
The rape charge is reportedly linked to Kerri Jackson, now 54 years old, who alleges that Campbell began molesting her in Tulsa when she was about 9 years old.
“I don’t even know how to react right now,” Jackson expressed upon hearing about Campbell’s arrest. “After all these decades, it’s a miracle.”
In the past, authorities refrained from prosecuting Campbell, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations after he left Oklahoma in the 1980s. However, prosecutors are now invoking a 19th-century law that suspends the statute of limitations if a suspect relocates to another state.
“There can be no tolerance for child sex predators, particularly adults who exploit their positions of authority and the faith of their victims,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement. “My office will vigorously work to ensure justice is served for the women who have carried this trauma for decades.”
Oklahoma authorities began looking into allegations against Campbell anew after NBC News published an extensive investigation called “Pastors and Prey.”
Jackson went from Oklahoma to Missouri to testify against Campbell to a panel of Assemblies of God officials. The men on the panel asked the 15-year-old girl to describe what happened to her in detail and then had Campbell and his wife challenge her account. Other alleged victims sent letters to the church, but officials allowed him to remain in the ministry after he abused a 14-year-old girl who lived with him and his family for months.
That girl, Phaedra Creed, went to police but ultimately backed out of testifying after she said she was harassed by church members. Creed told NBC that she had long regretted that decision and cried when she heard about Campbell’s arrest.
“I was speaking the truth then, and I’m speaking the truth now, but I’m no longer going to be silenced,” she said. “I am so happy justice will finally be served.”
“The Assemblies of God is grateful for all who have bravely shared their stories,” a statement from the church said. “We continue to pray that justice will be served.”
Campbell’s ministry focused on children, and in the early 1990s, he founded a non-denominational church and opened a Christian youth camp in the Missouri Ozarks. According to NBC, the new church became a “refuge” for convicted sex offenders.
Campbell joined the PTL Television Network in 2016, and the network — founded by disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker — broadcast him nationally until earlier this year. PTL has since deleted his sermons from their website, NBC said.
