MANSFIELD – A local Baptist preacher was arrested Tuesday on three counts of cyber stalking after members of his former congregation accused him of sending threatening e-mails and text messages.
Jim Reynolds, 55, of the 200 block of Wildwood in Mansfield, was freed from the DeSoto Detention Center after posting a bond totaling $3,156 through Eagle Bail Bonds.
Reynolds, former pastor of Graceway Baptist Church in the Carmel community, was arrested on warrants that three church members secured through a justice of the peace. They accuse Reynolds of making threats and sending harassing messages primarily through repeated e-mails. Some text messages also were sent, DeSoto sheriff’s Cpl. Dusty Herring said.
The communications included phrases such as “You’ll pay for this” and “Screw you,” Herring said.
Reynolds has been involved in an ongoing controversy with church members after he was released from his pastoring duties about two months ago. Herring said he tried to work with Reynolds after the initial verbal complaints were received last month. Reynolds did not follow through with requests to meet with investigators about the complaints.
When he did finally show up – after another family member intervened - at the sheriff’s office, Reynolds “accused (the complainants) as much as they accused him,” Herring said.
District Judge Charles Adams issued a no contact order as a condition of Reynolds’ bond. If Reynolds has any contact with the complainants his bond will be revoked immediately and he’ll be jailed until trial, Herring said.