Note: This story contains details about child sexual abuse.
The senior pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Central Florida has asked his congregation to write letters praising the character of his son-in-law accused of possessing child sex abuse material.
Pastor Tom Johnson thanked First Baptist Church of Auburndale in a text last week for being “exactly what the church should be in circumstances like these” and gave an outline of what to write.
“Say how you know him,” the text to “church family” obtained by The Roys Report (TRR) said. “Good things you know about him (his character as you observed, any specific examples you might like to add).”
“Please remember this is a spiritual battle,” Johnson wrote. “Please note that which has been made public about downloaded materials … may or may not be true and should not determine his guilt or innocence. He has pled not guilty.”
Your tax-deductible gift supports our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report, and you can elect to receive our featured offer, “When Shepherds Prey: Confronting Abuse in Church Leadership—A Call for Reformation” by Ron Cantor. – click here.
McGaffigan was arrested Dec. 17 and charged with possessing 30 images of children under 12 being sexually abused. The Polk County sheriff’s office said investigators found another 46 obscene images of children when they searched McGaffigan’s electronic devices. Prosecutors filed additional charges two days before Christmas.
“This suspect is the worst of the worst,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “Here is a married man with children of his own advocating for the sexual abuse of babies and children.”
Suspect is father of three
McGaffigan married one of Johnson’s daughters in 2013, according to posts on family members’ social media accounts. The couple has three daughters. The sheriff’s office does not believe the daughters appear in any of the child sex abuse material and are still investigating whether McGaffigan created any of the images himself.
Florida law enforcement started investigating McGaffigan in June 2025. The Polk County sheriff received a tip about images uploaded to cloud storage. Synchronos Technologies, the New Jersey-based company behind the digital storage, backup, and content management systems of many cell phone carriers, reported three files that appeared to violate its terms of service. Synchronos notified the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children, which relayed the information to local authorities in Florida, court documents show.
A sheriff’s deputy determined the images met the legal definition of “child pornography.” Each showed a girl between the ages of 9 and 12 with her genitals “exposed in a lewd manner.”
The cloud storage service was connected to a smart phone and internet provider that belonged to McGaffigan, according to the investigator.
The case was put on hold when the investigator retired, according to court records. It was reassigned in November. Detective Dillon Stroud got a warrant to review all of McGaffigan’s cloud files, even those that had been deleted.
Stroud, who works in the sheriff’s computer crimes unit, found 30 obscene images on Dec. 12. They “depicted children engaged in sexual activity and/or lewd exhibition of the genitalia and do depict child pornography as defined by (state law),” Stroud wrote in his application for an arrest warrant.
Several images had captions justifying child rape, according to the sheriff’s office. McGaffigan’s files also contained several videos showing little girls being raped. One showed a child with obscene instructions written on her body with a black pen, according to court documents.
The detective also opened another file in the cloud storage account and found a family photo, showing McGaffigan, his wife and their three daughters at church.
Pastor hired to heal church divides
First Baptist Auburndale is a historic Southern Baptist congregation located between Tampa and Orlando. The church started with a tent revival in 1920 and grew to prominence in the 1950s, planting more than half a dozen churches in the state, and occupying a big white building a few blocks from city hall.
According to an online church history, however, First Baptist Auburndale suffered four splits in the early 2000s. Johnson, a graduate of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis with experience as minister of evangelism at a large church in Jackson, Mississippi, came in to try to heal the divides.
He persuaded the church to adopt a new slogan: “First Baptist is a place for you with people who care.”
Johnson also hung a banner with the name “Jesus” in the front of the sanctuary and told the congregation, “In all things Christ would have the preeminence.”
Ministry at First Baptist Auburndale under Johnson is something of a family affair. The student pastor is Johnson’s son. The church secretary is his daughter.
McGaffigan did not work at the church but was an active member.
In his text message, Johnson told the congregation that McGaffigan “misses everyone” and said that, if the situations were reversed, McGaffigan would be happy to write character references for any of them.
McGaffigan in jail awaiting trial
“Your letter does not need to be long,” the message said. “Do not give an opinion of guilt or innocence, instead you may say something like – ‘I do not believe the charges against him reflect, show, reveal, etc., who he really is, who I know him to be,’etc. … It is perfectly okay to ask for mercy.”
According to Johnson, the letters are being collected and given to McGaffigan’s lawyer to help him make his case. The letters could also be used to request a reduction in bail.
McGaffigan was released on a $300,000 bond in December, with orders not to use any internet-enabled device or have contact with anyone under 18, court records show. He was rearrested in the Tampa area when the sheriff’s office filed additional charges.
According to the most recent arrest report, the sheriff’s office considered adding 62 more charges as well.
Each of the 76 criminal counts McGaffigan faces carries a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison. He remains in the Polk County jail.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for April 21.
Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at The Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee.
21 Responses
So gross. I can’t believe how little kids get to matter in these situations. I am the mom of 4 daughters who were SA by their dad, and it makes me so angry that this grandpa is advocating for someone who is at great risk to abuse his granddaughters rather than for the safety of the children he “loves.” It’s gross. The safety of children should always trump the comfort of predatory adults.
I agree with you. Sin has it’s consequences and no one is exempt.
I believe Sheriff Judd. Pastor Johnson should recuse himself from the proceedings.
This is one of the instances where saying “what the hell” is a literal statement. What complete wickedness, to preemptively prioritize the reputation and comfort of someone who does not merely have claims or allegations against them, but actual solid evidence of possession of such universally acknowledged evil as CSAM (child sex abuse material)?
What exactly is the point of the article? I was under the impression that this platform was reporting on abuses by clergy? A pastor trying to help his family? Really? Who, in the same position, would not do the same? Just because he is a pastor this is news? Our system says “Innocent until PROVEN guilty…not in the Roys Report but in a COURT of law. Since there has been no adjudication as of yet, what is the problem here?
“Who, in the same position, would not do the same?”
Me. If any of my sons or sons-in-law were charged with possession of child sexual abuse material, I would not ask my friends or even his siblings to write character recommendations for him. If I had some kind of “authority” over others, such as pastors often claim to, I certainly would not use that authority to ask people to support my son (or son-in-law). That’s just creepy.
It also seems weird to think that the authorities are going to be influenced by a lot of people who don’t really know the man writing letters that say, “I never saw him viewing child sexual abuse material.”
On the other hand, it’s possible that people will write saying the opposite: “I’m not the slightest bit surprised by his arrest, because I observed …”. His father-in-law may end up with results he didn’t expect.
Cynthia, those letters will be submitted to the church and THEN submitted to the court. So not only will the church see who complied with his directive to write a positive letter, they will also see if someone writes in a negative letter. I bet you a month worth of their tithes that those letters won’t be submitted to the court and those families will be frozen out of the church for their disloyalty.
Thanks for the additional information, Elizabeth. (I see now that it was in the screenshot of the church’s message.) Fascinating!
You ask, “What exactly is the point of the story?”
The point, I believe, is that the SBC has a long and sordid history of downplaying sexual abuse and ignoring and disparaging the victims of sexual abuse.
The pastor writes that the investigation, which is said to include photos of child rape and abuse, is “spiritual warfare.” The pastor also asks readers “to pray for his attorney, the prosecutor, and the judge.”
How about prayers for the victims?
And how about actions that address the widespread sexual abuse and exploitation of children in churches?
Hi Charles, It is one thing to privately support and advocate for a predator but asking your church, that you maintain some influence and control over to not just support but put their name to a letter that will be entered into a court document is worthy of reporting. Can you imagine asking church members to do this not knowing how many people may have been personally affected by the same crime or abuse? Would you feel safe there? Would you feel like your children would be supported if they were victims of CSA or would your pastor support your abuser? I will tell you that if I got this text, I would not even waste one minute more at that church and I would tell everyone I ever come in contact with that it is not a safe place.
I had the same thought. The Roys Report had already expanded its scope to include former pastors who committed abuse after leaving ministry. Now it covers any Christian related to pastor. Soon it will be any Christian. Come to think of it, we’ve already got a story about a couple who tried to rescue too many stray dogs and couldn’t adequately care for them which seemed to be deemed news worthy because the Roys Report didn’t like the grandfather pastor of one of them and wanted an opportunity to mention a crime another one of his relatives committed ten years ago! Still won’t mention Catholics though of course. Catholic clergy sexual abuse is still off limits on this site.
I can’t believe a real person wrote this post…asking what was “the point of the article”! This is AMORAL to the 9th degree. Trying to induce the help of the congregation without showing proven facts that the son-in-law is innocent is shameful. Instead, the pastor tried emotional manipulation and out-of-context bible verses to move people to support the pastor’s family.
On that alone, Johnson should be suspended. If innocent, be restored with back pay, if guilty, Johnson should be fired.
As a retired Spirit-filled pastor, chaplain, and bible college instructor I worked hand-in-hand with Child Protective Services to arrest the son of a church elder. The elder howled his son’s innocence but the son eventually came clean, admitted his guilt to repeated molestation of twin step-daughters. The elder left the church and the son got 23-life in prison.
A pastor is to be above reproach – so I know my wife and I did the right thing.
The problem is encouraging letters praising the character of the accused before a thorough investigation and due process could be problematic if it undermines justice or the protection of the vulnerable.
The point of this report is to show how a pastor is using his influence and position (the shepherd of the sheep) to help him, or his family personally. This my friend, is an abuse of power and position. Not to mention, an arrogance to say the least in putting this in written form knowing the possibility of the implication from the public. We do not take even the allegation of child crimes lightly in this county.
For this pastor to make reference to words like “deliverance”, “restoration”, and “mercy” tell me everything I need to hear of his man’s presumed innocence.
I copied this from the church’s letter
“ It would be very helpful if you would write a letter. We have been praying for deliverance, restoration, a dismissal of the case, a miracle. The ramifications for their family if he is found guilty are extreme, as the prosecutor may ask for many years of incarceration as well as other serious
penalties that could be applied.”
Praying for “dismissal of the case” and “if found guilty” is praying for special treatment regardless of the defendant’s guilt.
First I want to say, as a Mom of a son convicted of child porn, my heart breaks for the children who were victimized. It disgusts me that this “pastor” could even think of asking his congregation to lie to get his son-in-law off scott free. I believe in mercy and grace but sin is sin and it has consequences, for the pastor and his son-in-law.
I think the idea of “innocent until proven guilty” is misunderstood and misused by a lot of people. I think all it means is that the government can’t deprive a person of life or liberty until due process has run its course. In other words, “innocent until proven guilty” is a limit on state powers. It isn’t a limit on shame, social rejection, or community revulsion. Too many people like Pastor Tom Johnson take it to mean that an accused perpetrator should bear no consequences for his alleged criminal acts until a jury has rendered a verdict after a trial. And even then, too many pastors and American Christians don’t respect courts, prosecutors, and juries when someone they admire is accused or convicted of these sorts of crimes.
Very well put! Thank you.
Yes! Thank you for saying this, Brent.
I’m confused! Who are the victims here? The pastor’s son-in-law? Let’s give him a character witness. He’s a good boy! No! He loves to watch children sexually abused and raped and their innocent bodies exposed for all predators to view for life! Their lives have been ruined by predators like your son-in-law. This man is a sex offender
with no empathy for his victims. The Pastor doesn’t seem to have it either. What brings me some comfort is this predator will be spending many years in prison receiving sex offender treatment with little possibility of change . Court 101! When the judge holds you in jail before your trial,you have virtually no chance of going home anytime soon. Pastor,I would start asking God to heal these little ones who have been abused with a lifetime of trauma treatment ahead. May the criminal Justice system fulfill is duty to protect our little ones from the worst in our culture.
The main thing that could lead to acquittal is if there would be some evidence that the defendant did not place those files there or use them–and conversely, if the investigation finds that he did place them there and view them, he will likely go to jail. Regarding the request for letters, I’ve become a little familiar with a few cases, and as a rule, the perpetrator has pretty much everyone fooled, sometimes including some of the victims (this was the case in the Nassar case). So if I were a juror, these letters wouldn’t mean much to me at all.