The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Arturo Alarcon, an assistant pastor at 121 Community Church in Grapevine, Texas, stands accused of child porn possession. Law enforcement found the pornography while investigating a report of invasive visual recording.
A Grapevine pastor, volunteer, and substitute teacher is facing charges after allegedly being caught with hidden cameras and child pornography.
Grapevine police say 38-year-old Arturo Alarcon, who was an associate pastor at 121 Community Church, set up spy cameras inside a trailer neighboring mobile home park that the church uses as a temporary place to stay for visiting families.
“The person who planted those cameras knew what they were, and they were intentionally put there,” said Grapevine Police Spokesperson Amanda McNew. “He was the pastor who would bring families into that home. He had the codes to get into it.”
A missionary couple was staying in the home and discovered the cameras.
According to an arrest warrant, the man noticed a clicking noise from an alarm clock and discovered it took a memory card. He then noticed the camera. The church contacted police soon after.
“Through that investigation, detectives uncovered a downloaded photo of child pornography,” McNew said.
The child porn found on Alarcon’s phone was unrelated to the spy cameras, according to an arrest warrant. It’s unclear if additional crimes are suspected, but police say there’s no evidence indicating so at this time.
“We’re going to keep looking, but we haven’t found anything else at all,” said McNew.
In a statement to FOX 4, 121 Community Church says it placed Alarcon on leave after it made its report to police. He was later fired when he was arrested.
“The Grapevine Police Department has stated that the investigation is ongoing and there is no evidence of additional crimes. We have been in contact with the Grapevine Police Department and continue to cooperate with the investigation,” the church said. “We currently have no indication from law enforcement or any other source that local children were involved with the alleged conduct.”
No one on Friday answered the door at Alarcon’s trailer just two streets away from the trailer where he allegedly installed spy cameras.
Alarcon was known around the neighborhood for his work with the nearby church and with the Grapevine Community Outreach Center, an extension of the Grapevine Police Department.
Alarcon was also a substitute teacher within Grapevine-Colleyville ISD since March 2022.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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