Author: Lois

This is part sixteen in a series of articles. (Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by people with whom I have been in contact, who are well acquainted with this situation.)

I don’t normally release an article at this juncture before I have finished investigating. Because this is a recent case and this man worked for years having free access to young children in at least two United Pentecostal churches in Texas, besides times when he would visit other churches for events (such as being a monitor in the boys dormitory at the Texas youth camps in Lufkin and hosting lock-ins at area churches which consists of parents dropping off their children and they spend all night at church doing various activities), I feel compelled to share some limited initial information so parents will be informed and can check to be sure this man has not sexually harmed their children. Anyone whose child has come into contact with him needs to take this very seriously. He did not hold license in the UPCI.

On November 1, 2017, Jason Charles Hubacek of Beaumont, Texas was indicted on four counts of indecency with a child and three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The offense dates appear to be 2003, 2004 and 2007 and it was his three daughters from his first marriage (see image of dates). He pleaded guilty on August 6, 2018 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on September 17, 2018. He will be eligible for parole in ten. He has been transferred from Jefferson County jail to the TDCJ Holliday facility since then. According to 12NewsNow,  Assistant District Attorney Kim Pipkin stated, “This has been a very frustrating case for me as a prosecutor because of a unique legal issue that prevented us from giving the defendant the sentence that I felt he deserved. I felt he deserved life in prison.”

Jason Hubacek had a previous criminal history where he was charged in Bryan, Texas with the burglary of a building in the very early 90s. I believe he graduated from West Brook High School in 1992 and then received a certificate of completion in 2004 for Air Conditioning & Refrigeration from Lamar State College-Port Arthur. He was an adjunct (part-time) instructor for Lamar State College during the years of 2010-2017. This ended when he was indicted.

Jason Hubacek was born on December 15, 1973. He was a member of Abundant Life Sanctuary in Groves, Texas for at least ten years and was very involved, often working with young children. While there he drove the church van that would pick up children, was an usher where he sometimes went out of a service with a child when they left the sanctuary without a parent, and taught Sunday School. It is alleged there were times he was alone with children.

Around when he married his second wife on November 19, 2016, he joined up with the Anchor of Beaumont church where she was a member. He appears to have been there from around late 2016 until sometime in 2017 when he went to the Calvary Apostolic Church in Starks, Louisiana after he confessed.

He was a longtime employee of Johnson Controls (screenshot) and provided Abundant Life Sanctuary with free HVAC services and also did freelance work for church members. I believe he has also lived in Groves, Nederland and Port Arthur.

Below you will find the transcript of a letter that the pastor of Abundant Life Sanctuary issued to its members after Jason Hubacek was sentenced. All members received a packet with this letter as well as the church’s policies and procedures. The latter will be discussed in a subsequent article, but note that the policies were not adopted until 2011 and allegations were first known about Jason in 2007 due to a different court case. In addition to the sexual abuse, there are other aspects of this case that are extremely troublesome and there are many layers to the story.

It has been shared with me that besides this church telling people not to speak or write about what happened, it is alleged that the Anchor of Beaumont also went on shut down and staff members there were uncooperative with the detective assigned to the case. If there isn’t anything to hide, people should be free to speak about it, especially with law enforcement. Churches should want those who commit crimes of sexual abuse to be reported and prosecuted and they absolutely should not ever allow any such person to be around children. If a church properly handles sexual abuse issues, they shouldn’t worry about any publicity a case brings as they can point to the fact that they did what should be done. People will see that they reported and understand that these horrible events do occur despite having safeguards in place. What they won’t understand is when a church doesn’t report, ignores accusations, covers up such cases, or tries to handle them ‘in house.’

It has been alleged that Jason Hubacek’s second wife discovered something that lead to her confronting Jason and that ended up in him confessing to assaulting his three daughters years ago. It has been shared with me that Jason confessed to someone on the ministerial staff of the Anchor of Beaumont and they called CPS. Johnathan Green then sent Jason to the Myers and they sent him to Groves Police Department. Despite what is written in the letter below from Abundant Life Sanctuary, I have been in touch with more than one individual who has alleged that they did indeed go to David (plus his wife Sandra was in attendance on at least two occasions) and Jason Myer with concerns about Hubacek and did so more than once.

As mentioned in the letter, there was a previous court case where the judge told Hubacek’s first wife that she would be charged if sexual assault accusations against Jason were brought up again. [What I have heard about this initial case and how it allegedly was handled by a judge is not good if it is true. It doesn’t go along with the church statement that the judge was so convinced the charges were false.] The church letter is between the asterisks and following it I share additional information about the churches Jason attended. The Anchor of Beaumont has a past history of sexual abuse charges and cover up while another man was the pastor and there is an allegation of another sexual abuse incident which allegedly caused a church split prior to Johnathan Green becoming the pastor.

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STATEMENT FROM THE PASTOR TO THE CHURCH

Because there have been many accusations of us handling a situation, involving Jason Hubacek, we feel the need to make a statement to the church family.

We have and always will take any accusation of sexual misconduct and child abuse very seriously. We have required background checks of all volunteers and paid employees, of the church that work with children and youth in any way, for many years. We have a Child protection guidelines that was adopted in 2011 that we will share with all of you.

Accusations were made against Jason in a divorce proceeding 10 years ago. We sat hours in court to find out if these were true or false. The judge was so convinced these charges were false that he said if any more accusations were made against Jason, by those accusing him, that they themselves would be charged.

We never once received an accusation of sexual misconduct against Jason from anyone in the church or anyone whose child attended our church. His background check is on file in the office with no sexual misconduct history.

Two years ago Jason left our church when he married Brandi and went to the Anchor in Beaumont. About a year ago, he came to me and confessed that he had had some evil desires and done some things to his 3 girls when they were babies and had confessed to his pastor, Jonathan Green, to the police, and to Heather, the mother of his girls. He was very repentant and sorry for what he had done and wanted to make sure he was right with God by taking responsibility for his actions.

He began attending church in Starks, LA with Bro. Shields as his pastor, but would come to me and ask for prayer and guidance during this past year. We discussed these sessions with Bro. Shields and was assured that Jason was very sincere in his remorse and wanted to serve God and make things right. He faithfully attended Bro. Shields church for the past year, making sure he was not involved with children in any way.

His parents were very distraught over all of this and asked us to help Jason through this process he was going through. We have prayed with him and them. We went to court with Jason to simply be a friend to him, as we would with anyone trying to come back from a sinful past. We do not approve of his actions, but feel it is a pastor’s job to help anyone trying to repent and make restitution for their past sin. We are here to help people go to Heaven. God’s blood covers all sin. It is what the church is founded upon.

If you have any concerns that are relevant to this situation, please write them on paper, sign your name, date them and give them to me. If you would like to discuss anything further, please feel free to make an appointment to speak privately about it to us. We would ask that you not make any comments on Facebook or remarks to the press about the situation. God has set this church in the city of Groves to be a lighthouse and a place for souls to be saved. We must not get distracted by circumstances or comments other people want to make to try to destroy our influence. This is God’s church and it is a privilege to be a part of it. We love each of you and expect to have an overflowing revival, in the very near future. God bless each of you.

September 19, 2018

Image link for page 1, page 2.

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The church in Groves, Texas, where Jason Hubacek spent many years closely working with children, is  Abundant Life Sanctuary and the pastors are David Noel Myer (senior pastor) and Jason David Myer (pastor), both ordained ministers in the United Pentecostal Church. It is located at 2301 West Parkway Street and has a legal affiliation with the UPCI. (The UPCI has affiliated and non-affiliated churches.) David Myer has been the pastor since March of 1974 and previously was a pastor in Montgomery, LA. In 2007 the church moved to its present location from 6225 Terrell Street and in 2011, his son Jason was elected as pastor. Jason Meyer also served as the youth pastor from 1998 until 2014. [May 29, 2024 Edit: David Myer passed away on September 10, 2020.]

The church in Starks, Louisiana is Calvary Apostolic Church and the pastor is Jeremy Shields, who also founded the church in 1993. It is located at 4270 LA-12, and is at the corner of State Highway 109. It is an independent church and Shields is not licensed with the UPCI.

The Anchor of Beaumont used to be called the First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont as well as New Life Tabernacle and the current pastor is Johnathan Green, also an ordained UPCI minister. It is located at 6655 Highway 105 in Beaumont, Texas and also has a legal affiliation with the UPCI. This church has previously been in the news on more than one occasion and I will briefly summarize years of events.

In February 2012 the church filed a lawsuit against Lamb Law Firm, Kip Lamb, Leigh Parker and Lonnie Charles Treadway, the former pastor.  In 2008, Treadway (known as Buck) had requested the firm hold in a trust fund the insurance money that the church had received due to damages caused to its property by Hurricane Rita. He wanted to protect the money from a lawsuit that was pending against the church and himself. In 2009, the money was gone and Lamb pleaded guilty in 2013 to misuse of the funds and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He spent the 1.2 million dollars without the knowledge or consent of the church. The lawsuit remained in the news through 2017 as part of it, regarding Leigh Parker, went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. You can find numerous news reports and legal findings about this situation online.

Lonnie Treadway had hired the Lamb Law Firm to defend him and the church in a sexual harassment lawsuit. There are things about that case which are very disturbing as Lonnie’s own granddaughters were victims. Judy Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Treadway married Jeffrey Alan Klem in 2000 and they are still married as of the writing of this article. He is a cardiologist and Buck’s son-in-law. Klem started molesting one of Treadway’s granddaughters when she was eleven in 2001. [This reminds me of Debbie McNulty’s case as Steven J. Dahl allegedly started molesting her around the same age and shortly after he had married.] She wasn’t the only victim over the years and when reported to Treadway, it is said that he called his granddaughter and others “liars and whores.” At least two of Klem’s victims turned to self-mutilation in trying to cope. Sadly one, Ashlyn Treadway, died in a car wreck in 2012.

In August 2006, parents filed a civil suit against Jeffrey Klem and Lonnie Treadway and accused the pastor of covering up Klem’s pedophilia. It was said the assaults happened from 2001 through 2006. This is why Treadway asked the Lamb Law Firm to hide the insurance money. When I first heard of these cases years ago and how Lamb spent all the money instead of keeping it safe from any judgment in a lawsuit, I thought at the time it was fitting, though at the same time sad for the members who had nothing to do with it.

In December 2006 when Klem was 44, he was charged in Jefferson County with three separate cases of indecency with a child. In a plea bargain in August 2007, Klem pleaded guilty to three counts of injury to a child and avoided having to register as a sex offender and was able to retain his medical license. Judge John Stevens presided on that case. Klem received ten years deferred probation and was ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and I believe he spent six months in prison, only over the weekends.

In July 2007, he was indicted in Harris County on two counts of indecency with a child. He pleaded guilty in 2009 under another agreement where he did not have to register as a sex offender. He received five years deferred adjudication on each charge of injury to a child. He was ordered to write letters of apology to the two victims. Prior to that, in January 2008, he claimed his guilty plea in Jefferson County was made involuntarily and unknowingly as he believed the deal meant that Harris County would honor the same and they did not. The court denied his writ of habeas corpus and he appealed. The Ninth District Court of Appeals found the original judgment was correct and he lost the appeal in 2008.

Jeffrey Klem settled the civil suit in 2010 after the jury selection process had started. Judge Gary Sanderson presided over that case. Treadway and the church settled in June 2009. Lonnie Charles ‘Buck’ Treadway never lost his UPC license and still retains it in 2018, though to my knowledge he no longer is a pastor. [May 27, 2024 Edit: The same holds true for 2024.] He continues to be welcomed with open arms to speak in various UPCI churches.

Jeffrey Alan Klem still practices medicine in Texas as of 2018. In 2009, the Texas Medical Board, “put him on 15 years of probation and ordered him to have no contact with patients younger than 21. He also must have a chaperone when treating older patients, work in a practice with at least one other doctor, get psychiatric care, take a “professional boundaries course” and pay a $5,000 fine.” The probation expires in 2024. How immensely sad it is to think that because he was not required to register as a sex offender that people may not be protecting their children.

More may be written about Jason Hubacek’s case in the future.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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Part fourteen of a series of articles.

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by one witness, though there are several others which have corroborated events. There have been no convictions as the case mentioned here was not reported to the police and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not admitted guilt.)

Many now wonder if there has been a habit of covering up and denying child and sexual abuse in evangelical churches in general—if there is something in the evangelical DNA that makes us hesitant to deal with accusations quickly, openly, and truthfully when there is the suspicion of grave sin in our midst. – Mark Galli

In writing this series of articles, besides all the situations I already knew, others have contacted me about additional instances of sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. Since starting this series, I heard about ones coming from a well-known church in Colorado, which started sounding all too similar to what I have heard about Calvary Gospel Church in Wisconsin regarding failure to report. Between the two sets of asterisks below is what a person remembers from one of the alleged instances. In looking into this situation, I conversed with several people, including eyewitnesses to the service described in this report, and based upon their accounts I do not doubt this took place.

Prior to this event, the wife of another youth pastor had allegedly committed adultery with a member of the youth group, though he was of age, possibly in his mid 20s, and it appears to have been consensual. The couple divorced. It has also been alleged that in the 1990s, the pastor found out that the man who was playing the role of Jesus in “The Messiah,” an Easter production, was having an affair. It is claimed that after the discovery the pastor allowed him to continue in the role as it was close to when the play was being presented. These are not the only troubling situations surrounding this church and they don’t all pertain to sexual matters. One individual shared with me that in their opinion they have never seen a more corrupt district than the Colorado District of the United Pentecostal Church.

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Growing up, we seemed to have a revolving door when it came to youth pastors. They would come and go frequently, and it was always heartbreaking when you got attached to a new youth pastor only to have them disappear in a year or two.

Then, a young, cool youth pastor was announced. He and his wife were the epitome of good looking, well-bred UPC ministry. His adorable wife was the envy of many young girls for her gorgeous dark hair and fashionable clothes, while the youth pastor himself was what many young girls hoped their husband would look like one day. They toted around a sweet chubby cheeked baby boy that we all fell in love with and begged to babysit. We were smitten.

For almost two years, I thought we had finally hit the jackpot with who I will refer to as Youth Pastor X. Things seemed to be going amazingly well, the youth group was thriving, and we felt loved and cared about by leaders at our church.

Then, one Sunday evening, they weren’t at church, which was really odd, as they had just been at youth service the Friday evening before so they couldn’t have been out of town. At the end of the church service, the pastor of the church stood in the pulpit and said we would be having an all church meeting and he asked our visitors to leave at that time because of the sensitive nature of what he needed to say.

One by one, confused visitors exited the sanctuary with the assistance of church ushers who made sure they had exited the building before the meeting began. Dread sat thick and heavy in my chest. This wasn’t the first time we had a meeting like this. It usually meant that someone was being publicly kicked out of the church.

Slowly, my pastor began explaining that our beloved Youth Pastor X had been asked to resign his position at the church. He did not go into a lot of detail but did say that we were not allowed to have any contact with him or his family and that they were currently packing their moving truck and would be leaving the state immediately.

Questions started swirling in my head…what did they do? Was his wife caught wearing pants? Were they going to movie theaters? This was terrible! And we weren’t even allowed to say goodbye!

As my pastor continued to talk, it was disclosed that misconduct had occurred which left them no choice but to ask Youth Pastor X to leave. No further information was shared, though the pastor did take a few questions that he answered very vaguely.

As the next few days came and went, the truth of the story began to circulate. Youth Pastor X was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl from the youth group. The strange thing? The fault was entirely pinned on the 14-year-old girl. She was labeled as promiscuous and a bad seed. Everyone knew that she was a bad kid, and this just proved it. She must have come onto Youth Pastor X and he had no power against her. She had a spirit about her and the devil was working in her to ruin Youth Pastor X’s ministry. She was ostracized from the youth group, we all looked at her as though she had ruined his ministry.

No charges were ever filed. Youth Pastor X was allowed to leave the state without a tarnish against him.

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At the same time, if the many charges prove to be true to a larger extent than they currently acknowledge, it would be sad and troubling—but not without hope if it leads to truth-telling and repentance. The truth of sin that leads to repentance is one of the most glorious moments in our life in Christ. – Mark Galli

From what former members have shared, in this church it has been the normal procedure to dismiss any visitors in order to address members in regard to problems. The pastors are known for cutting off contact between members and anyone they feel is dangerous to the church.

The identity of the girl was never officially revealed by the pastor but there were people in the church who knew it.  One person shared that her and the youth pastor were caught kissing while they were on a youth conference trip up in the mountains, possibly at Winter Park. It is alleged that she had a crush on him and pursued him and that she left the church for awhile after he was sent away. She has been in and out of that church since then.

Two others have shared with me they thought she was 15 or 16 at the time, not 14. Regardless of whether it was 14, 15 or 16, the legal age for consent to sexual activity in Colorado is 17. The victim was only 16 years old in 1998 and wouldn’t have been 17 until the first third of 1999 when this youth pastor was no longer there. The youth pastor was 28 in 1998. Despite these facts, there are some with ties to the church who will tell you that what happened was consensual. They are in grave error because according to the law, that was impossible. A minor cannot give consent and especially not a minor when the other party is in a position of trust.

The law, which in my opinion needs to change, does allow that someone under 15 can consent to have sex when the person is not more than four years older. In addition, a 15-16 year old can consent as long as the other person is no more than ten years older.  (I am uncertain as to when the near in age rules went into effect. Regardless, the age difference between the two exceeded both rule exceptions.) What also comes into play in a case such as this one is when the perpetrator is in a position of trust. Examples of a person being in the position of trust are pastors, teachers, doctors, etc. A criminal charge of sexual abuse is more serious when it involves a position of trust. [Because there may be other sexual abuse victims from Colorado reading this, some may wish to review this PDF document, which covers the law, statutes of limitations and potential sentences and was valid as of at least 2015. You may also wish to read this article of why it is important to report possible cases of sexual assault.]

As I’ve written elsewhere, ‘if you are interacting with a sex offender who is admitting he or she has harmed someone, and you feel yourself being pulled to feel sorry for this person instead of, or more than, the victim, it is probable that an experienced victim-stancer is manipulating you.’

“Many well-intentioned people feel sympathy for an offender and advocate for them with the victim and/or the victim’s loved ones. They remind victims that their abusers are created in God’s image no matter what harm they have done. For the victims and their loved ones, this is a bizarre, surreal, and wounding experience because it echoes and reinforces the grooming of the abuser. – Maureen Farrell Garcia

One person alleged they were told by the pastor that this man was dismissed due to impropriety issues with money. However, the youth pastor privately shared that he had been dismissed due to inappropriate contact with a minor. It has also been alleged that the pastor told him to leave Colorado immediately and if he did so, no further action would be taken against him. This was never reported to the police. The youth pastor did not hold a UPCI license at the time.

This youth pastor was married in 1993 and felt a call to preach in his teen years. He attended the Jackson College of Ministries, a UPC operated Bible college which has since closed. Serving at this Colorado church while in his mid to late twenties, it appears he held the position from 1996 through 1998. Some dates I received were slightly different, but all narrowed it down to the mid to late 90s. He was definitely gone in 1999 as the next youth pastor was serving during the time of the Columbine shootings.

Besides all of this, it is very disturbing that this youth pastor became licensed a few years later after moving to another district just southwest of Colorado, during the time when Tommy Hudson was the Superintendent. It doesn’t matter whether or not he ever again did something similar. As was explained in a previous article, when a person is guilty of an immoral sexual act, they are forever ineligible to be licensed. In this alleged situation, besides adultery, we have a sexual assault of a minor. This man is first seen in the 2002 UPCI Directory, which is reflective of him receiving license in 2001. It is interesting to note that the Directory indicates he received ordination, which isn’t the level a newly licensed minister usually receives. In 2002 he became the associate pastor of a church. Just a few short years later in 2005, he became the pastor of a different church and remains in that position as of the writing of this article. Two to three years after taking over the church it became non-affiliated. (There are two types of UPCI churches: affiliated and non-affiliated.)

The rules in the UPCI Manual are clear- if one has been sexually immoral, they are not qualified to hold license, nor to minister in a United Pentecostal Church.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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