Crime & Safety

Puppeteer's Child Porn Arrest Shocks Local Church

Members of Gulf Coast Church are still reeling from the news of gruesome charges against Ronald William Brown, WTSP 10 News reports.

Members of a local church community say they are shocked by  and puppeteer who volunteered there for years in the children's ministry.

"Gut-wrenching. Sickening. Shock," said one member of , who didn't wish to be identified, in an interview with WTSP 10 News.

Gulf Coast Pastor Randy Morris told the news station he was "obviously very shocked and sick to my stomach over the allegations. And disappointed."

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Ronald William Brown, 57, was arrested last week by federal agents and charged with conspiring to kidnap a child and talking online about torturing, cooking and eating them.

Investigators said they found images of child pornography, children engaged in bondage and images of what appear to be dead children in Brown's mobile home.

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A 29-page criminal complaint alleges Brown also chatted online about killing and eating a boy he knows at the church, where he has reportedly volunteered for at least 15 years. Brown told agents that "it was just a fantasy and he could never and would never hurt anyone."

Morris told WTSP he has spoken to the boy's parents and that "they are reeling emotionally. Obviously not from necessarily what has happened, but for what might have happened to their child."

Brown's acting attorney, Eric Kuske, told TBO.com that Brown contends he is innocent. A federal judge , and the hearing could be next week, TBO reports.

Watch WTSP's full video report here for more on the church's reaction.


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