Pastor's son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal
Indiana police arrested Jonathan Peternel, the son of Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith's mentor and adviser, Nathan Peternel, Thursday
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The son of a suburban Indianapolis pastor who has mentored Indiana’s lieutenant governor for years was arrested Thursday on charges of possessing child sex abuse materials, according to local police.
For his defense, Jonathan Peternel notified the court Thursday he planned to hire as his lawyer Devin Norrick, who is one of two people who allegedly watched a deepfake video of a lawmaker’s wife in Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s office this past spring.
Peternel was arrested Thursday after police say they acted on a tip which showed Peternel distributing videos of pre-pubescent children being abused. After obtaining a warrant for his Snapchat account and Peternel’s residence, police say they found more than 200 files of child sex abuse, including AI-generated photos appearing to show toddlers pregnant, according to a local police statement on X.com.
At his court appearance via video, Thursday, Peternel pleaded not guilty and alerted the court he planned to retain Norrick as his lawyer, according to state court records.
Norrick and Lt. Gov. Beckwith are members of a close-knit community at Life Church, a network of Pentecostal-affiliated congregations throughout the state founded by Peternel’s father, a mentor and friend of Beckwith’s, Nathan Peternel.
Beckwith and Pastor Nathan Peternel also co-host a podcast together called “Jesus, Sex and Politics”. Their latest episode posted just days after Kirk’s assassination last month is titled “A Tribute to Charlie Kirk”.
Beckwith has used Life Church as a political launching pad in recent years, including hosting Kirk at his church for a podcast taping in 2022.
Nathan Peternel did not return a call for comment Thursday evening. Norrick did not return a text or a call for comment Thursday evening.
The Madison County Prosecutor’s Office, which is handling media requests in this case, was closed after regular hours and did not immediately return a request for comment.
Beckwith, whose office is being investigated by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office for possibly violating the state’s law against distributing nonconsensual deepfakes, has repeatedly denied that Norrick and another top staffer, Gregg Puls, viewed the deepfake video in his statehouse office.
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https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/indianas-lt-gov-micah-beckwith-says-three-fifths-compromise-constitution-great-thing
These pedos hide in these so called religious grounds…