This is a continuation of our coverage on former United Pentecostal Church pastor and presbyter, Robert Anthony “Tony” Langston, born November 9, 1964, who has been charged with sexual crimes against a minor in Colorado. Langston also had been the Colorado District Youth Secretary and the District Youth President. This is case number 25CR03894 in Denver County.
Back in 2000, we made two blogs about this, though no names were mentioned at the time as no arrests or charges had been made. You may want to read Colorado United Pentecostal Sex Abuse Cases Part 3 and Colorado United Pentecostal Sex Abuse Cases Part 4 for additional information. See also Part 1 and Part 2 of our recent posts.
The alleged crimes happened while Tony Langston was the youth pastor of Landmark Tabernacle, a UPCI church in Denver, Colorado. The pastor was Billy Hale, now considered the bishop, who was also the Colorado District Superintendent at the time. Hale’s son-in-law, Dannie Hood, is the current senior pastor. Some readers may recall our article about Dannie Hood refusing to testify in the trial of Jesse Klockenbrink, a twice convicted sex offender, in 2018. Klockenbrink still attends the church. See United Pentecostal Pastor Dannie Hood’s Refusal To Testify.
In our previous post, we shared the charges, bond, and a basic summary of what has happened since July 10 through July 24, 2025, as well as a rundown of his UPCI licensing and positions from 1987 through 2011.
In this post, we are sharing the four page supporting affidavit for his warrant, which gives more insight into the charges. It had already been redacted by the court but I redacted two things. Some may find it triggering.
You will learn that the SVU of Hudson County, New Jersey was investigating Tony Langston earlier this year for the sexual assault of a child. Due to that investigation, they discovered that there was an assault in Colorado during September or October of 1998.
In May 2025, the Colorado investigator interviewed the victim. The victim shared that while Tony was a Youth Pastor at the church, he took an interest in him and “started to mentor him.” They began to be together more and more, including him babysitting Tony’s young daughter. “Most of the time [name redacted] would be alone with Langston.”
Since Tony’s wife got a position working overnight, Tony would tell the victim that he was lonely and wanted company. On one of these occasions, Tony invited him to watch a vampire movie and while there, Tony asked “if he wanted to have some fun.
“Langston offered [name redacted] what he believed to be cough syrup or Nyquil. Langston told him it would feel good and he should try it, it was liquid Benadryl. Langston told him that it’d make him feel loopy. He poured [name redacted] a cap full and talked him into taking it. Later, Langston asked [name redacted] if he felt it, to which [name redacted] responded no.” Langston then gave him another and he started to feel sleepy, so Langston told him to go and lay on the bed and he’d finish the movie alone. The victim woke up to find Langston performing oral sex on him.
There is also a brief mention of an interview with another victim. They “stated that Langston appeared to prefer boys in the church who had absent fathers or were raised by their grandparents.”
Billy Hale was interviewed on May 20, 2025 and he shared he knew about the victim being molested. “Hale stated that he has heard other people hint about sex abuse by Langston, but no one has come out and said it. Hale stated he didn’t report the incident to police because he was under the impression that [name redacted] wouldn’t testify.”
The victim shared that he told a friend what happened, “who then reported it to Pastor Hale.” There was a meeting with Hale and it was shared that he attempted to contact the police chief. “Hale gave Langston time to gracefully leave the church but told him he could no longer be a youth pastor there.”
In our blog from 2020, where we initially did not name anyone, we shared what a former member of the church had witnessed at the time this was happening. Below is part of what she shared.
“Then…it happened again. It almost felt like a horrible déjà vu. A Sunday night service came and went without Youth Pastor Z one Sunday…and again the visitors were asked to leave the service because of an ‘all church meeting.’
“Youth Pastor Z was asked to resign and we were not allowed to have any contact with them. They were also leaving the state immediately. No details were given.
“I was so sick to my stomach. What happened this time? Why is our youth group cursed?
“This time, I didn’t hear for years whatever happened with Youth Pastor Z. This story was kept under wraps for a long time. He moved away and has since pastored a church in another state.
“…I have found out from a couple of the victims that after everything came out, the church pastor asked to meet with them and their parent/guardians. They were instructed not to involve the authorities in both of these cases because it wasn’t ‘biblical.’ The pastor said that he wanted to allow God to deal with them and that God’s punishment would be far greater than anything the law could ever do to them.”
This is not the only case where similar happened at Landmark Tabernacle under the leadership of Billy Hale. As you can see from our previous post, Billy Hale did not ask Tony Langston to turn in his license and obviously did not report the information to UPCI headquarters as Langston remained licensed for a decade after leaving Landmark Tabernacle. One wonders how many other allegations have been similarly mishandled.
Anthony Langston is the founder and former pastor of Tapestry Church, which in June 2025 became Freedom Church Jersey City, when Tony resigned and turned it over to former UPCI minister Wade Haskins.
I originally posted about this on July 25, 2025 on our Facebook Page.
You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.
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