Fired megachurch pastor charged with sending nude photos of congregant arrested again
Just seconds after pleading not guilty at a preliminary hearing to two counts of capturing an intimate representation without consent, Gabriel Mills, the recently fired guest experience pastor at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, campus of the multisite Journey Church, who allegedly sent himself nude photos of a female congregant from her husband's cell phone, was arrested again for a similar crime.
"This morning Gabriel Mills was arrested after his preliminary hearing. A new complainant came forward, after reading the original media release. Detectives were able to locate evidence on Gabriel's phone that substantiated the claims made against him by the complainant," Lt. Josh Hecker of the Kenosha Police Department said in a statement cited by the Kenosha County Eye.
The initial complaint against Mills, 41, shared on Facebook by the Kenosha County District Attorney's Office, said a female congregant, identified as CMB, and her husband, who is also an employee of the Racine Police Department identified as TAB, attended a life group meeting at Mills' home with their children and other church members on Sept. 22.
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At around 8 p.m. during the meeting, she told investigators she heard her husband ask Mills to help download an audiobook application on his cell phone, later revealed as Audible. She said she went downstairs to get her children, and about 10 minutes later, she came back up and saw Mills holding his phone close to his chest so it could not be seen.
She said that as she talked to Mills, he lowered his hand and phone to his side, and she could see a sexually suggestive photo of her.
She said she recognized the image as a photo she had taken of herself and had only ever shared with her husband. She said she became furious about how her private photo had ended up on the pastor's phone and wondered what other images of her he might have.
The congregant and her husband subsequently filed a complaint with the local police. Police cited evidence showing that Mills used AirDrop to transfer two explicit photos from the husband's phone to his.
A spokesperson for Journey Church told WISN 12 Wednesday that the church leaders are "aware of the ongoing investigation and are cooperating with authorities."
Mills, a father of five and recently celebrated 20 years of marriage to his wife, was arrested and went to bond court on his birthday on Oct. 2.
Commissioner William Michel II set his bail at $7,500 cash, which was paid by a wealthy man named Don Taylor, according to the Kenosha County Eye.
Details from the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department show Mills is still in custody on the latest count of Capture an Intimate Representation Without Consent.
Police are also investigating if there are additional victims.
"The investigations against Gabriel are still on-going. At this time, several search warrants have been executed and many items of evidence have been seized. The seized evidence primarily consists of electronic devices, that contain digital evidence," Hecker said Wednesday. "The seized items are still being processed to identify other potential victims. Det. Eric Traxler is asking for anyone with information related to this case to please contact him at 262-605-5223."
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