A travelling pastor was arrested after authorities said he attempted to meet with someone he believed to be a 16-year-old boy. The incident unfolded following a planned sting orchestrated by a content creator known online as Big Bad Wolf, whose work has focused on exposing adults who allegedly target minors.
The pastor, who identifies himself online as Bishop James D. Stockton, was taken into custody after arriving at a park where he thought he was meeting a teenager. Instead, police were already waiting, alerted by the content creator, who had been communicating with the pastor under the guise of a younger boy.
According to Wolf, Stockton initiated the conversation with a fake profile of a 19-year-old on a gay dating app. Stockton continued messaging even after being told the supposed boy was actually 16. According to The Shaderoom, in one of the messages, the pastor asked, “You want me to come eat you up?” and asked him if he had ever experienced anal pleasures. Wolf said he has never done it, and Stockton offered to be his first.
Other messages, according to Wolf, showed Stockton asking, “How many older men have you been with?” before adding that he could be the teen’s “first.” When Wolf reminded him that the person had identified themselves as 16, Stockton did not dispute the age in the messages. Instead, he allegedly responded with comments such as, “Age don’t matter to me,” and assured the teen he would keep things “secret.”
After days of exchanges, a meet-up was arranged at a local park and with the police in advance. When Stockton arrived, expecting to meet the teenager, Wolf confronted him, pretending to be the older brother of the fake teen. He asked why Stockton was at the location and said, “You sent him a message on Thanksgiving, talking about you want to come eat him up.”
Stockton attempted to explain, saying he had hoped “it was somebody older.” Moments later, police officers detained the pastor and questioned him about the messages. Officers read portions aloud, noting that the teen clearly stated, “I’m 16.”
Officers questioned why he continued pursuing a meetup after learning the person was underage. At one point, an officer asked, “Why didn’t you find someone else?” Stockton insisted he did not believe the age disclosed, saying people often misrepresent themselves on the app.
Police rejected that explanation, pointing out that regardless of the boy’s claimed age on the app, the pastor continued the conversation after being told the younger age directly. He was handcuffed and taken into custody at the scene and booked into a Florida jail on charges of communicating with the minor with the intent to commit a sex crime and arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd purposes.
Stockton reportedly once served as president of the Marion County, Florida NAACP and had recently announced a congressional run. Since the incident, websites connected to churches he previously served appear to have been removed.
Wolf, who has been conducting undercover operations on social media for about three years, said that it was not until later that he discovered the man he was speaking to was a pastor. Speaking to TSR Investigates, he said he does this work because, “I just want to see kids enjoy their innocence… a lot of parents don’t understand what’s happening online.”
