Former youth minister accused of sending nude photos of woman, soliciting photos from minor

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former youth minister was charged on Wednesday in Cole County with sex crimes.

Robert Ferguson, 27, of Jefferson City, was charged with child enticement, nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says one of the victims was an adult. She allegedly started speaking with law enforcement in May after learning that Ferguson had sent images and videos of her nude to other people, court documents say.

The victim sent multiple screenshots of a phone and was worried that Ferguson may have also been speaking to minors, the statement says. Several of the phone numbers that Ferguson communicated with were determined to be people who were members of their church, the statement says.

Police wrote that additional screenshots allegedly showed that he tried posing as a teenager and refused to identify himself to a youth. He also allegedly tried to get that same youth to show him nude photographs.

Ferguson allegedly admitted to sending nude files of the woman and lying about his identity to the youth, the statement says.