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The former president of an evangelical get-out-the-vote nonprofit was charged Monday with multiple counts of possession of child sexual abuse material. Jason Yates, 55, the former CEO of My Faith Votes , was charged with eight counts of possession of pornographic work involving minors under the age of 14. The charges come after a witness provided Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents in July with a hard drive that belonged to Yates and contained suspected child sexual abuse material, according to a probable cause statement obtained by HuffPost.
Each charge noted that Yates has a prior conviction and is a registered predatory offender. An attorney representing Yates declined to comment on Tuesday. According to the probable cause statement, the witness said they came into possession of the hard drive after a relative of Yates accidentally discovered it in his office.
When the relative put the hard drive into their computer, they discovered a “collection” of child sexual abuse material, the probable cause statement said. According to the statement, the contents of the hard drive included more than 100 sexually explicit images of children. The images allegedly showed children ranging in age from 5 to 11, and one file allegedly included a video approximately 17 minutes long.
Yates served for years as CEO and president of My Faith Votes, which describes itself as a nonpartisan group advocating for Christian citizens to vote in every election. The Texas-based group has collaborated with a number of influential conservative figures, including former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson , and it lists former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) as a current honorary national chairman on its website.
My Faith Votes did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. The group reportedly told Religion News in an email that its board of directors “separated” Yates from the organization in early August. Earlier this year, Yates wrote an op-ed in the conservative Washington Times , urging Christians to stand against “sexually deviant behavior” in schools.
The behavior that apparently offended Yates involved middle school students handing out Pride buttons and asking about others’ “gender preferences” at a robotics competition his son attended. In a June press release on the My Faith Votes website announcing a video series called “Think Biblically,” Yates encouraged Christian voters to “let their faith guide their politics” on issues including gender and sexuality, abortion and socialism. “It’s critical that we reject apathy and think Biblically about the issues in front of us, and this series is the ideal resource to help Christians navigate every political issue through the lens of the Word,” he said.
Yates was released on Monday following his hearing. As a condition of his release, he is to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18. Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website .
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