A well-known Pentecostal preacher and televangelist was arrested Wednesday and charged with child sex crimes in Oklahoma.
Joe Campbell, 68, was arrested by US Marshals in Missouri and is being held in the Greene County Jail pending extradition to Oklahoma, where he faces one count of first degree rape and one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16, KYTV reports.
The charges come after five women claimed that he sexually abused them as children in the 1970s and ’80s. Nine others — including four men — told KYTV that Campbell showed them porn, made lewd comments, or touched them inappropriately during that same time.
The rape charge appears to be connected to Kerri Jackson, now 54, who says that Campbell molested her for years in Tulsa, beginning when she was about 9.
“I don’t even know how to react right now,” Jackson said after learning of Campbell’s arrest. “After all these decades, it’s a miracle.”
Police and prosecutors have refused to seek charges against Campbell in the past by claiming the statute of limitations had run out when Campbell left Oklahoma in the 1980s. But prosecutors this time applied a 19th century law that stops the statute of limitations if a suspect flees 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.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Joe Campbell/Greene County Jail]