OAKDALE-

A hand written note on the door of Bethel Assembly of God Church in Oakdale indicates that youth group “will be postponed” until further notice. The youth pastor at the church, 27-year-old Tyler Bliss, was arrested for possession of child pornography.

“I’m concerned because my son was at one of the youth groups a few weeks ago,” Billy Elliot, father to a 10-year-old son. “I’m going to straight up ask him, ‘Were you touched, talked to, pictures took in any way.’ If anything abnormal happened.”

The Assemblies of God district office told FOX40 Tuesday that the organization performs background checks on senior pastors only. In this case, that would be Tyler’s father, David.

“He (Tyler Bliss) was hired by the local church– not by us, the Assemblies of God- our district office
or national location” Jim Braddy, district superintendent of the Assemblies of God, said. “We always advise all of our churches, when they are working with children to do a total background screening.”

The Ceres Police Department believes this is an isolated incident. Investigators tell FOX40 the department has no evidence that anyone else in the church was involved.

If you have any information about the case, contact the Ceres Police Department.