Beckwith adviser's son gets public defender as church scandal grows
A dispatch from the courtroom where the son of a politically powerful preacher is facing four felony charges of child sex abuse and exploitation
ANDERSON, Ind. _ Jonathan Wesley Peternel, the son of one of the state’s most politically plugged in pastors, sat alone at the defense table in a weathered county courtroom last Friday, as he accepted a public defender as his counsel as he faces four felony counts of child exploitation and trafficking in child sex abuse material.
Peternel sat upright as the Madison County judge asked him basic questions, but his voice was low, monotone, almost non-existent as he struggled through the otherwise perfunctory criminal hearing.
Dressed in a green and white striped inmate’s jumpsuit, with his hands and feet both handcuffed behind him, Peternel walked awkwardly toward the defense table, stumbling occasionally over the chains. The other inmates of the county jail, older Black men, younger white men with tattoos across their necks and face, did not seem to struggle walking.
Family and friends of other criminal defendants sat in the old chairs, with their orange, brown and yellow fabric seats and the worn-out wood of the armrests peaking through where the polyurethane had chipped away over the decades.
Peternel’s father, a top adviser and employer of Indiana’s firebrand lieutenant governor, and mother, who Peternel was discovered to have more than 50 videos of them having sex or naked, did not attend the hearing.
The courtroom looked as weathered as the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, which at one time was a manufacturing hub booming with well-paying middle class jobs and bustling streets
Peternel stood out in the room, with no tattoos and a sturdy build. But he looked and sounded glazed over, as if his body was strong but his soul was somewhere else.
The county judge ticked through a list of basic questions, growing increasingly quizzical as he read through the details in Peternel’s case file from the bench.
Would this Devin Norrick be representing him? No.
Did he have a defense lawyer? No.
Did he want a public defender? No.
His bond only required $2,500 to get out, was he indigent? Did he work? He was 24 years old, what jobs did he have? Two days as a private contractor, some time at a Buffalo Wild Wings.
How did he survive? How did he eat? He lived at home with parents, and then he lived for awhile at his grandparents house, before he was arrested.
The judge motioned to one of the lawyers from a town criminal defense firm which doubles as public defender’s office, “He’s on your list.”
Facing the likelihood of a lengthy jail sentence, if not life in prison, for being found with more than 200 videos of gruesome child sex abuse material, the young Peternel looked distinctly alone.
Peternel’s arrest more than two weeks ago cracked open a long-seclusive Pentecostal church which helped catapult the state’s rambunctious lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, from local gadfly to second-in-line to the governor, with eyes set on perhaps bigger prizes down the road.
Peternel’s father, the lead pastor of the Life Church and employer, podcast co-host and close friend of Beckwith, had been largely absent from the church he built over almost two decades, since his son’s arrest.
Even though he is not in jail or facing criminal charges, it’s Peternel’s 48-year-old father who has retained a lawyer and carefully navigated the continuing fallout with new stories emerging of his conduct as pastor.
A few days after his son’s arrest last month, Nathan Peternel addressed a nagging question tucked within the criminal affidavit: police discovered more than 50 videos and pictures of Nathan and his wife either having sex or naked, on his son’s phone.
Since then, former churchgoers have been talking with 24sight News, sharing stories of Nathan Peternel talking about his own sex life at length — in private groups, in front of his entire congregation. Last Thursday, 24sight News published an interview with a 27-year-old Indiana woman named Paige who attended a marital counseling session with Nathan Peternel a decade ago in which he pressured her, when she was 17, and her then-fiance, who was 19, to discuss in graphic detail how they were intimate.
Paige also recalled being disgusted when she attended services at the time and Nathan Peternel, who was 39 years old then, preached to his congregation (including children) in detail about the sex he would have with his wife.
Nathan Peternel has regularly refused to respond to 24sight News’ requests for comment and church staff have refused to answer questions or provide comment. Nathan Peternel has retained a lawyer, per church staff, but they have declined to say who that lawyer is.
Beckwith, who is facing his own criminal investigation into conduct in his statehouse office, has not talked publicly about his best friend, Nathan Peternel, but he has preached to his congregation that the criminal probe is the work of the devil.
Since his son’s arrest, Beckwith and Peternel seem to have stopped posting new podcasts. Shortly after the arrest, they deleted a Dec. 2021 episode of the podcast in which they interviewed an expert on combatting child sex trafficking.
More recently, they deleted another episode of their podcast, from February 4, 2023, titled “Let’s Talk About S.E.X. Baby: An Interview With the Wives.” The episode’s teaser promises, “Micah and Nathan invite the two best looking guests they've ever had into the JSP studios to talk about one of the most fascinating gifts God has given humanity… SEX.”
In other episodes of their show reviewed on the YouTube channel “Truth.Fortitude.Justice.”, Nathan Peternel and Beckwith laughed at length about sections of the Bible detailing sexual content. In an episode on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, aired on June 6, 2023, at the same time Beckwith was running for lieutenant governor and pushing his local library to hide books which discuss sex, the two pastors laughed about the section in which two angels called to investigate the cities are threatened with rape.
“Please don’t rape the men who are at my door,” Nathan Peternel says, paraphrasing Lot in the tale.
In another episode the two pastors laughed about the Biblical tale of David killing and circumcising 200 Philistines, and said maybe they should make the Bible’s stories of sex and private parts into a graphic novel they could sell at the “Jesus, Sex and Politics” merch store.
On Sunday, Nathan Peternel returned to preach in person at the Noblesville campus of Life Church, which is typically Beckwith’s home church. He did not discuss the arrest of his son or concerns raised about how he talks about sex with churchgoers. Instead, Nathan Peternel preached the gospel of John 11:38, the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
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The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:
Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25
Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25
AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25
Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25
Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:
Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25
Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25
BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25
Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25
Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25
Dad of the year, Nathan Peternel. Ironically the vision statement of life church is "fathering sons and daughters into the kingdom of God".