Arlington Pastor Charged with Child Pornography

On Wednesday, December 11th Arlington Police Department, in cooperation with Homeland Security Investigations arrested 38 year old Brett Jarad Monroe at his home on a single charge of possession of child pornography.

The police department is reported to be releasing very little information about the case for reasons that it was in partnership with a federal agency and relates to child pornography.

What is known is that prior to his arrest, Monroe was an associate pastor at Heritage Baptist Church where he worked full time starting in 2009.  Residual meta data shows that he was described as a "great asset" that served in "a wide range of ministry."  Since the arrest, the church website has scrubbed his information.

Monroe was also determined to be a volunteer at Corey Academy of Fine Arts & Dual Language in the Arlington Independent School District.  Earlier this morning the district issued a statement which said:

“To date, the district has not received any claims of inappropriate behavior from parents or students related to this individual. We encourage parents to talk to their children and report any suspicious behavior.

Prior to the arrest of the volunteer, the background check was clear.

The Arlington ISD will fully cooperate with the Arlington Police Department and any other law enforcement agencies should they require any information or resources from the district.”

Monroe's arrest was not related to an online sting that the Arlington Police Department recently conducted to catch child sex predators which resulted in eight arrests.  Information for the operation was released the same day as Monroe's arrest, but the operation had actually been conducted during the previous week.

Individuals made contact with what they believed was a 13-16 year old child and then showed up at a specified location to meet.  At that time they were arrested and charged with online solicitation of a child.

“The collaboration between Texas DPS, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office and Arlington PD demonstrates our commitment to identifying and arresting these individuals who prey on our most vulnerable victims, our children,” said Police Chief Will Johnson. “We will continue to partner with other law enforcement agencies with these types of operations to send a clear message to the criminal element that we will not tolerate this type of behavior in our community.”