Authorities said Thursday that they are pursuing their investigation of a Lombard clergyman charged with possession of child pornography and attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse after he allegedly attempted to arrange a sexual rendezvous with a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl from Naperville.
Rev. Timothy A. Rasey, 42, pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in Lombard, was arrested Wednesday at an unidentified Elmhurst fast-food restaurant as a result of an Internet sting operation carried out by a multiagency law enforcement task force, said Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan. Rasey remained in the DuPage County Jail on $500,000 bond, a spokesman for the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said late Thursday afternoon.
DuPage County State’s Atty. Joe Birkett said at a news conference Thursday that a search warrant had been executed and that computer equipment had been confiscated from Rasey’s home at 911 S. Finley Rd., just south of the church.
Authorities said the Internet unit began investigating Rasey on July 1 after he allegedly logged into a chat room frequented by men attracted to adolescent girls and initiated a computer conversation with a female Naperville detective who routinely patrols such sites. Rasey allegedly began communicating by e-mail with the detective, whom police said he believed to be an adolescent girl.
Police alleged that Rasey later transmitted an image of child pornography to the “girl” and that he suggested she meet him at the fast-food restaurant. Police alleged he wanted to arrange sexual activity. Rasey bought condoms and took them to the restaurant, according to the criminal complaint.
Rasey was charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Both are Class 3 felonies and are punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Naperville Police Chief David Dial said police were investigating whether Rasey could have contacted other potential victims via the Internet. Lombard Police Chief Leon R. Kutzke said authorities also were looking into whether Rasey could have approached potential victims or victimized children in his role as a pastor.
The Naperville Police Department, which initiated the case, was assisted by the Elmhurst and Lombard Police Departments and the FBI in the investigation. The case will be prosecuted jointly by Ryan’s statewide Internet Criminal Activity Unit and by Birkett.
Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, religious leader of the 150,000 United Methodists in northern Illinois, issued a statement Thursday announcing that Rasey had been suspended from his pastorate pending an investigation. Sprague said that an interim pastor had been assigned to Faith United Methodist Church.
“If Rev. Rasey is adjudged to be guilty of this charge or any inappropriate behavior associated with children, steps will be taken to remove him permanently from pastoral ministry,” Sprague said in the statement. “If he is innocent, we will assist him in establishing same.”
Attempts to reach members of Lombard’s Faith United Methodist Church by telephone Thursday morning were unsuccessful. On Thursday afternoon, the church doors were locked and the parking lot was deserted.
Linda S. Rhodes, communications director for the Chicago-based Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, said Thursday that to her knowledge, no complaints of any kind had been leveled against Rasey by church members in the past. Complaints against clergy that are brought to the attention of the Northern Illinois Conference always are investigated, Rhodes said.
Northern Illinois Conference records showed that Rasey had been appointed to the Lombard pastorate in July 1997, Rhodes said. From 1995 to 1997 Rasey had served as pastor at a United Methodist Church in Lockport, Rhodes said, and before that, he was pastor of a United Methodist Church in Brookfield. Messages left on answering machines at both churches did not elicit responses on Thursday afternoon.
According to the 1997-1998 United Methodist Church conference directory, Rasey is married to Rev. Amy Jo Rasey, pastor of a United Methodist Church in Midlothian. Efforts to reach Amy Jo Rasey at the Midlothian church or at the couple’s home in Lombard were unsuccessful.
Rasey is the seventh man to be arrested as a result of the work of the multi-jurisdictional Internet unit, Ryan said. The unit is funded by a grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. It monitors the Internet for child sexual exploitation, targeting offenders who use a computer to seek out potential victims or to create and distribute child pornography.
