Sugar Land parish fires youth minister
A youth minister at a Catholic parish in Sugar Land was fired this week after a viral video circulated of him allegedly trying to meet a child for a sexual encounter.
St. Laurence Catholic Church administrator Tony Oltremari said Eric Painter lost his job of six years Tuesday after an allegation of “unacceptable and potentially illegal behavior” was lodged against him. Sugar Land Police Department were notified of an incident at a Houston Walmart, where witnesses said Painter planned to meet with an adult posing as a teen boy who he exchanged messages with on the Grindr dating app.
The incident was outlined in a 14-minute video posted to YouTube on Aug. 1, after members of an upstart vigilante group known as Predator Poachers ambushed Painter in the store with the intent of outing him as a possible child abuser.
The video, which as of Friday had garnered more than 65,000 views, shows an exchange of messages purported to be between Painter and the man behind the fake Grindr account. The messages include nude photos from Painter and demands for similar images in return, according to screenshots. The messages continue with Painter then explaining how the teen could sneak out to meet without his parents knowing.
The sender wrote he had done this before.
“I mean you could just say you’re going on a walk or bike ride or something,” he wrote.
The founder of the Predator Poachers group identified himself only as Alex and said he posed as the teen. He identified himself as a 15-year-old and later, after Painter asked to meet, suggested they go to the Walmart on Dunvale Road. The video continues with Alex and two others looking for Painter in the store and then confronting him.
“I know why you’re here so I can either humiliate you here, or we can talk over there,” Alex said to a visibly shaken Painter in the video.
At one point, the trio chased Painter through the Walmart and followed him to his car in the parking lot. Throughout the video, Painter repeatedly denied he was there to meet with a child.
Fort Bend District Attorney Brian Middleton said the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston contacted his office Tuesday about the allegation. His prosecutors then found the video and alerted Sugar Land police to the footage. Their investigators have since learned it happened outside of their jurisdiction, police spokesman Doug Adolph said.
“There is nothing that suggests a crime has occurred in our city,” Adolph said.
Adolph additionally said investigators have have made contact with both
people involved in the video. The investigation is expected to be passed along to Houston Police Department next week, he continued.
The Predator Poachers organizer said his group — consisting of college students — has produced about 30 videos of a similar nature since May and that Painter’s reaction was nothing new to him.
“He hasn’t done anything we haven’t seen before,” Alex said.
He was not aware of Painter’s role in the Sugar Land church until after a viewer identified him as his one-time youth minister.
Oltremari described Painter as a lay member of their church, rather than clergy. Since the firing, Painter’s profile has been removed from the church’s website and all mentions of him removed from its Facebook page. To Oltremari’s knowledge, there has been no indication of wrongdoing involving parishioners. But he encouraged anyone with information to contact Sugar Land investigators.
“Our parish family is understandably upset by this news, but to our knowledge, there is still no indication that any of our teens were connected to this,” Oltremari said in an email.