The co-creator of the favored “Thank You Jesus” yard indicators that increase cash for Christian teams has been charged with little one intercourse crimes.
Lucas Hunt, 25, from Asheboro, North Carolina, was arrested and charged Tuesday with one depend of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, in response to jail data from the Randolph County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Hunt is alleged to have obtained an specific video of two underage women, sheriff’s deputies mentioned in his arrest warrant.
Hunt — who created the favored signal when he was an adolescent — was arrested following a web-based tip from the Nationwide Middle for Lacking and Exploited Youngsters, jail data present.
Officers from the Invictus Job Pressure — a cross-county initiative that investigates web crimes towards kids — started investigating the case final month, earlier than figuring out Hunt as a suspect.
He was held within the Randolph County Detention Middle on a $75,000 safe bond and appeared in Randolph County District Court docket on Wednesday, in response to the Sheriff’s Workplace.
Throughout his first courtroom look, Hunt informed the choose he understood the fees and plans to rent an lawyer, CBS 17 reviews. His subsequent courtroom look is scheduled for March 19.
Hunt gained fame in 2016 after he started promoting yellow yard indicators with the phrases “Thank You Jesus” written on them in a childlike scrawl, and by 2017, he had offered 100,000, spawning a nationwide motion, the Thank You Jesus Ministry, reviews The Information & Observer.
All of the proceeds from the gross sales would go to native Christian organizations.
In 2014, Hunt began placing up indicators studying “Jesus is the reason for the season,” in his hometown of Asheboro, earlier than turning into a camp counselor for a gaggle of 12 kids the next yr.
“I read the Bible to them and led them throughout the week. I saw them grow,” Hunt informed the Seven Lake Insider in April 2017.
Round Easter 2016, he shortened his indicators to learn merely, “Thank You Jesus,” which grew to become a mainstay of entrance yards throughout the US.
Greater than 250,000 of the indicators — which begin at $10 — have now been offered, together with automotive magnets, backyard flags, and bracelets, in response to the motion’s web site.
Hunt’s title has since been faraway from the Ministry’s web site, and their board is assembly quickly to debate his future, Thank You Jesus Mission president Constance Frazier — who cofounded the motion with Hunt once they had been each 16 — informed FOX8.
“Thank You Jesus has always been about more than one person; it’s about people who love Jesus and want to show their appreciation. Although we cannot comment on the criminal charges against Lucas Hunt, we can share that he blessed thousands of people through the Thank You Jesus signs,” Frazier informed the outlet.
