- Reagan Gray, 26, was a volunteer at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock when she began a nine-month sexual relationship with the boy, prosecutors allege.
- Church authorities questioned her about the relationship in 2020, but it was not until late last year that the police were informed.
- The church is one of the largest in Arkansas and counts former President Bill Clinton among its former parishioners.
A teacher and children’s volunteer at one of Arkansas’ largest churches, accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy, told police she would go no further than oral sex so he could “remain pure.”
Reagan Gray, 26, sent nude photos ‘daily’ to the boy after the abuse began in the fall of 2020 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, which former President Bill Clinton once attended.
The church sent her for counseling after the boy’s parents discovered text messages alluding to the affair on their son’s phone, but she was welcomed back within weeks and resumed her abuse.
The couple had sex in his car and in their Monticello apartment until May 2021, but the boy told investigators he did not remember whether he responded to their demands for nude images in response to his torrent of nude photos.
“I don’t have any explicit memory of doing it, but given how often she requested it, it probably happened,” he admitted.
Teacher and church volunteer Reagan Gray, 26, allegedly had a nine-month relationship with a 15-year-old student ministry member from 2020.
Officials at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock warned her not to continue the relationship, but she allegedly resumed it after returning from therapy, demanding that he send her nude images.
The boy told detectives the couple did nothing but oral sex so they could “stay pure.”
Gray, who taught at Little Rock Christian Academy, met his alleged victim at the church where he was also a member of the student ministry.
The student told detectives that Gray discovered his phone number through the church music program’s group chat.
The boy’s parents confronted Gray and informed Senior Pastor Steven Smith after discovering a series of text messages.
Smith said he confronted Gray and suspended her from student ministry despite her insistence that her relationship with the boy was not sexual.
The police were not informed and the church assigned Gray an “accountability partner” in the form of Smith’s wife, Ashley.
But a police affidavit claims Gray resumed his abuse after returning from therapy, switching his communications with the boy to Snapchat.
It was not until a counseling session with Smith in September last year that Gray admitted the relationship had been “sexual in nature” and had continued after his suspension.
Police were called and the boy told FBI investigators that the couple had sex between five and 10 times during the fall of 2020.
She said Gray performed oral sex on her, but the couple did not have sex “so that (he) would stay pure,” the affidavit records.
By then she had already been hired as a teacher at Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood, but the Pulaski County Special School District suspended her in February after learning of the investigation.
Gray was charged with felony sexual assault of a teenager between September 2020 and May 2021 and was released on $20,000 bail after turning herself in to Little Rock police on Wednesday.
Her lawyer John Ogles said she denied the charge and said he hoped she would clear her name.
Gray has been released on $20,000 bail and has denied a charge of felony sexual assault.
The Little Rock church is one of the largest in Arkansas and has counted former President Bill Clinton among its congregation.
He is due to appear in Little Rock District Court on June 17.
“We trust the judicial system,” he insisted.
Smith resigned from his position earlier this month and interim executive pastor Mark Carter said the case had caused distress to congregants at the 128-year-old church that routinely draws nearly 1,000 people to its services.
He said Gray’s arrest had been reported to the church’s new “Caring Well Team” to “assess the situation and determine what action will be taken.”
“We are saddened by this situation, grieving for the young man affected and praying for all involved,” he wrote.
