A highly-respected Florida pastor could face the death penalty after his sensational arrest for allegedly photographing himself raping a very young girl, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Baptist preacher Jonathan Elwing, 43, has a slew of horrific child sex charges against him, including two capital felony raps for sexual battery of a minor.
His arrest has rocked the congregation and deacons at vibrant Palm View Baptist Church in Palmetto, Florida, where he had been senior pastor for five years.
The father of four was initially charged with four counts of possessing sickening child porn photos after cops were tipped off by a crypto-currency company that he had purchased them off the dark web.
However, a forensic trawl through his cellphone later also discovered a private photo vault app hiding at least 14 pictures of him horrifically sexually abusing the young girl, according to his arrest report.
Baptist preacher Jonathan Elwing, 43, with his family. He is accused of photographing himself raping a very young girl as sickening charges are brought against him
The father-of-four could face the death penalty after prosecutors charged him with a slew of horrific child sex charges, including two capital felony raps for sexual battery of a minor
And DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal Elwing now faces up to 25 charges relating to child pornography and child sex as Manatee County Sheriff’s Office detectives continue to trawl through his electronic devices.
Elwing’s devastated wife Krystal, 40, this week put on a brave face at the neat ranch-style home she shared with the preacher, telling DailyMail.com: ‘I’ve been through too much.’
Bearded Elwing – previously an associate pastor at a congregation within the celebrity-favorite Hillsong Church according to his LinkedIn page – faces a minimum sentence of life without parole if convicted.
But prosecutors could also press for the death penalty under a 2023 Florida law which allows for the ultimate sentence for sexual battery of a child under the age of 12. Juries in Florida need just eight of the panel of 12 to agree to execution.
Chillingly, DailyMail.com can confirm detectives found eight covert-style cameras in Elwing’s office at the church, whose building links with Educational Harbor private Christian school – where Krystal is a teacher.
Another two were at the couple’s home. None of them were in position.
Elwing, dubbed ‘a monster’ by Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells, is currently held without bond at Manatee County Jail in Palmetto. He was indicted by a grand jury on July 10 on sexual battery of a child.
Elwing’s family was left ‘devastated’ by the charges brought against him
After initially facing two capital sexual battery charges, further charges of producing and processing child sexual abuse material were brought after probes of Elwing’s devices
Krystal, the accused preacher’s wife, told DailyMail.com she had ‘been through too much’ following the charges against her husband
Wife Krystal ‘was devastated when she was made aware of what was going on’, sheriff’s office information officer Randy Warren told DailyMail.com exclusively.
‘I don’t know how much she maybe suspected something was wrong. But everyone involved here has said how much she was surprised and devastated.’
The pastor was facing two capital sexual battery charges and six counts each of producing and processing child sexual abuse material after the second trawl of his devices was made.
But Warren revealed: ‘With everything we’ve collected in the search for additional images, we’re going to have a final number of up to 25 charges. We’ve got production of child pornography, capital sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation.’
‘Elwing was living a double life in not being the person people thought he was. It’s been devastating also for that church, for that community, for family, for friends.
‘It creates a lot of anger when people they realize they put a lot of trust in, who they respected, turn out to be someone completely different.’
Referring to Elwing’s swift arrest, he added: ‘We are thankful that we are looking at just one victim of capital sexual battery, although of course what happened to that victim is a tragedy.’
Of the covert cameras, Warren said: ‘We know that he was using devices to capture images and video, but we didn’t find any of these actually inside the church or elsewhere, apart from in his office and home – not in any common areas such as bathrooms.’
Elwing’s wife Kristal is a teacher, and detectives said they found eight covert-style cameras in Elwing’s office, which links with the school where Krystal works
Officials said Krystal ‘was devastated when she was made aware of what was going on’
Elwing’s church responded to the scandal by posting a note on its website saying it is cooperating with the investigation
Elwing describes himself on the profile on X, formerly Twitter, as: ‘Husband, Father, Child of God. Serving Christ as a Minister of His Gospel.’
His arrest report accuses him of committing the alleged offenses from April 26 this year. The pastor, who began preaching as an associate in Punta Gorda, Florida, in 2003, initially told detectives there was no porn on his devices.
Elwing resigned as pastor of the Palm View Baptist Church in Palmetto, Florida, before his arrest
But his position began to unravel as detectives questioned him more closely.
He admitted he ‘would sometimes purchase adult pornography from a third-party person,’ but then claimed that ‘it was possible that child pornography would be part of the purchase, without his knowledge’.
Elwing maintained he didn’t look at child porn and ‘would delete anything he considered to be child porn when he was looking at adult material’.
However at a second interview, he was confronted by four purchased images on his Google Pixel 7 Pro phone showing different children aged between four and seven being seriously sexually abused.
Four days later detectives uncovered six child sex images involving Elwing, according to the report. The first ‘showed Jonathan’s face’ and the child was wearing ‘a distinct shirt that had a picture of a cartoon giraffe and writing on the side of the giraffe’.
Under questioning, detectives confronted Elwing with images from his phone allegedly showing him sexually abusing a child
The report said Elwing photographed himself penetrating the child and the images were taken on April 26 this year between 4.17pm and 4.21pm local time.
Another image showed the same child wearing a white shirt ‘and no other clothing. The child is only visible from the shoulders to her knees as she is lying down on her stomach on a blue colored blanket’.
Elwing is ‘observed attempting to penetrate the child’s vagina and (his penis) is pressing against her buttock and vagina’.
In other pictures, Elwing positions the child so as to obscenely display and photograph her intimate areas, according to the report. In one picture she is seen just from her waist to her knees.
Sheriff Wells said after Elwing’s arrest: ‘I can’t stress this enough. This is a monster.
‘This is a man who went to great lengths to hide his true identity. To use whatever resources he could to feed the deviant behavior that he has.
‘I feel really bad for his family. I feel bad for the congregation at Palm View Baptist Church. He went into that church professing to be a man of God, but he’s really nothing more than a liar and a sex predator.’
After charges were brought against Elwing, the sheriff’s office branded him a ‘monster’ and said he ‘went to great lengths to hide his true identity’
Wells said he was concerned there may be more victims who have not been identified.
‘If anyone has had close contact with this monster, if anyone knows if their kids have been around him, I’m just requesting that they talk to their children,’ he said.
Elwing resigned from his position immediately before he was arrested, according to the sheriff’s office.
Palm View Baptist Church has called on its members to help the investigation.
A statement on its website says: ‘These allegations are serious. We are committed to reporting any suspicion of abuse and criminal activity to the appropriate authorities immediately upon discovery.
‘If you are aware of any information relevant to the investigation, we encourage you to contact the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
‘Considering the gravity of these allegations, we cannot make further comments regarding the investigation other than that we have been and will continue cooperating fully in the hopes that justice is accomplished.’
The church is affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention, which has come under fire for allegedly covering up child sex abuse in Texas.
And Elwing is reported to have been a vocal critic of reforms against sexual abuse, saying in a social media post in February 2023 that such moves would undermine the organization. He said it would be ‘the end of the SBC’.
Elwing’s arrest has rocked the congregation and deacons at vibrant Palm View Baptist Church in Palmetto, Florida, where he had been senior pastor for five years
Palm View Baptist Church’s other pastor, Ryan Akers, exclusively told DailyMail.com: ‘We are sickened and horrified at the nature of the allegations and the charges that have been brought.
‘Knowing a little bit about the shape of the investigation, it’s looking not very good on his part. It’s just horrific that there seems to be a victim that has been endangered, been harmed.
‘It’s a nightmare type scenario to have someone in our midst accused of this kind of crime.
‘I cannot speak for all the community, but I know there is anger in some, plain disgust in others. I’ve gone through all those emotions myself.
‘We are doing everything we can to support Krystal. A lot of our discussions as a church have been how we can minister to his family as they deal with the shock of these allegations. It is a major concern of ours to make sure we don’t forget them.’
Pastor Akers, who has been at the 200-strong church for four years, revealed there had been fears Elwing may have planted covert cameras to record in the buildings after the discovery of the 10 in his office and home.
However, police conducted a second sweep and ‘we are confident there are no cameras that are on campus,’ he said.
Asked what vetting procedures are in place for pastors, Akers said of Elwing’s appointment: ‘There were reference checks, several of them, a series of interviews, background checks, social media checks.
‘But the background check only works if there’s a background to check. It’s just step one of a series of things that need to be in place.’
Of Elwing’s time at the church, he said: ‘He was an entirely different person to the one he is being accused of. What we understand about abusers is that they hide in plain sight.
‘We’ve all put on masks. This is just one that is particularly horrendous.’
