UPDATED::Former youth pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel in Aurora charged with sexual exploitation of child - Chicago Tribune

UPDATE::  Judge to let 1 'uncharged victim' testify at Harvest pastor's sexual-exploitation trial 

One "uncharged victim" will be allowed to testify about texts and Snapchat messages prosecutors say he received from a Sugar Grove man who is accused of sexually exploiting another teenager.

But Kane County Circuit Judge Michael Noland denied a request Friday to let another uncharged victim testify against Paxton Singer, 24, a former youth minister at Harvest Bible Chapel.

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Singer is charged with sexual exploitation of a child by asking a boy, at least 13 years old but younger than 17, via text messages, to send him pictures of himself shirtless, to spend a weekend with Singer, and about the boy's sexual habits, for Singer's sexual arousal or gratification, according to court documents.

Noland ruled Friday that the texts to another boy, then 16, asking him to send pictures of himself in his underwear, were similar enough to those sent to the victim in the court case that his testimony could be relevant to showing Singer's intent.

But the second uncharged victim was 17 at the time he received texts from Singer, which, under the law, meant he was not a child, according to Noland. The judge also said Singer's requests to that teen -- to send pictures of himself shirtless showing his abdominal muscles and tan, and sexually oriented questions -- were not sufficiently similar.

A former youth pastor for Harvest Bible Chapel in Aurora has been charged with the sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old boy on allegations he sought nude pictures of the boy and repeatedly asked to spend the weekend with him.

Paxton D. Singer, 24, of Sugar Grove, was taken into custody last week after a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to Kane County jail records.

Singer was charged with misdemeanor sexual exploitation of a child and disorderly conduct, according to court records, which say he “knowingly enticed a person under 17 years of age to remove their clothing for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification of the defendant or the child,” asked the boy about his sexual habits and invited him to spend the weekend with him.

Singer is accused of sending the text messages between October 2016 and August 2017 after first meeting the teen when he attended an event at the church’s campus in Aurora, where Singer worked at the time, according to a news release from the Kane County state’s attorney’s office.

Former youth pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel in Aurora charged with sexual exploitation of child - Chicago Tribune