This is Part 26 of an ongoing series on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. I have started to cover a few cases on which I don’t have as much detailed information as I have on some others. When/if I have more details, I will either update these articles or write a new one with the additional information.
Tony Wayne Sasnett was born June 27, 1976 and at the time of his crimes he was married with three school-aged children. He was a project manager at Allied Communications and this is where he was arrested. Since at least September 2013, Tony Wayne Sasnett was the home Bible study director at Greater Faith Apostolic Church located at 3412 Clays Mill Road in Lexington, Kentucky. William J. McGraw has been the pastor for decades. While the church quickly removed the information about him from their website, it is archived in Wayback as seen by this screenshot. He preached at the Greater Faith Apostolic Church at least as far back as 2010 (screenshot).
Sasnett first appears in the 2013 edition of the UPCI Directory, indicating that he obtained his local license in 2012. (Directories are issued in January of each year and are more reflective of the prior year.) The license was granted by the Kentucky District of the UPCI when Scott Marshall was the District Superintendent and William J. McGraw was a Presbyter. As of the writing of this article, Marshall yet holds this position but McGraw does not. Sasnett last appears in the 2016 Directory, which is the year of his arrest. He was the Section E leader for the Kentucky District’s North American Missions Team (screenshot and PDF file).
On February 11, 2016, Tony Wayne Sasnett was arrested at his place of employment. On February 12, he was officially charged with one count of the prohibited use of an electronic communication system, one count of sexual abuse and five counts of third degree rape of a 16 year old girl, who he met at church. In Kentucky third degree rape, a class D felony, in part occurs when the perpetrator is ten or more years older than a person who is sixteen or seventeen years old. All the crimes happened when she was 16. The sexual abuse charge came from an incident that happened in August 2015 that didn’t involve intercourse. Then in a parking lot in October, he initiated sex by telling her, “I’m in charge now,” and that’s when he first raped her. At a preliminary hearing on February 23, one of the rape charges was dropped when it was realized it happened in Jessamine County and not Fayette County. He was being held in jail on a $17,500 bond, which was reduced to $10,000 and he was forbidden the use of any electronic communication system. At the time he plead not guilty. The judge sent the case to a grand jury to review the charges to determine if there was enough evidence to send it to trial. As a part-time employee at Greater Faith Apostolic Church, he was fired after his arrest.
According to news reports (source), on February 23 Detective Tyler Smith testified that Sasnett met the girl when she was ten and threatened her that she would be banned from mission trips and wouldn’t be able to attend the church if she told anyone what was happening. Smith testified that Sasnett “escalated the relationship with the victim from a joke about a massage to sex in parked cars and in Sasnett’s home.” He had sex with her five times and on her phone she had sexually explicit text messages and a nude photo request from him. His victim repeatedly tried to end his contact with her, even asking him in a text message, “I don’t understand why you want to have sex with me because I’m a 16-year-old girl and you have a wife at home.” Part of what was involved in this case is that Sasnett, being a minister and leader in the church, was in a position of trust with the victim. That makes his crimes more serious and usually the punishment is more severe. Any person who holds such a position and sexually abuses someone attending the church is abusing their position of trust. Though his attorney fought the charge, the judge ruled that Sasnett was in a position of trust.
On December 7, 2016, Tony Wayne Sasnett either was convicted, or made a plea agreement (I assume the latter), under Kentucky Revised Statute 510.155, a class D felony which is the “unlawful use of electronic means originating or received within the Commonwealth to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities” and 510.110 [1], another class D felony, which is sexual abuse in the first degree. He was sentenced to one year for the electronic charge and five years for sexual abuse and it appears they are running concurrently. Sasnett is presently incarcerated at the Northpoint Training Center, a medium security prison on Walter Reed Road in Burgin, Kentucky. His expected release date is February 6, 2021. Due to the serious nature of the charges, they do not allow for parole. This is case 16CR303 in Fayette County.
May 13, 2022 update: Tony Sasnett was released from prison in early February 2021. He quickly moved back to Oklahoma. He is a lifetime registered sex offender and lives in Oklahoma. See here.
Sermons by Tony Sasnett:
(5-13-22 Edit: These links are no longer valid)
May 12, 2010
September 28, 2011
January 12, 2013
Articles:
Lexington Church Employee Arrested, Charged With Rape – February 12, 2016
Lexington Bible study director charged with five counts of rape – February 12, 2016
Lexington church worker charged with rape – February 12, 2016
Man with ties to church in Lexington accused of rape – February 13, 2016
Detective: Church worker used his position to pressure 16-year-old into sex – February 23, 2016
Former Bible Study Director In Court On Rape Charges – February 23, 2016
Case against former Lexington preacher moves forward – February 23, 2016
Kentucky Online Offender Lookup (and for when that link is no longer valid go here and here.)
You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.
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