Former CEO of Christian nonprofit pleads guilty to possessing child pornography
Jason Christopher Yates, 56, pleaded guilty to two of eight felony counts of possession of child pornography on Tuesday, July 22, in a district court in McLeod County, Minnesota, according to a plea petition obtained by USA TODAY.
Yates was initially charged and arrested in October 2024, according to Minnesota state court records. My Faith Votes told Religion News Service that Yates served as its CEO until August 2024.
'In early August 2024, the My Faith Votes board of directors separated Jason Yates from My Faith Votes and board member Chris Sadler assumed the position of Acting CEO," the statement reads. "Over the last three months Chris has been working with the dedicated My Faith Votes team to encourage millions of Christians to vote, pray and think biblically about this election in America.'
Yates became the CEO of My Faith Votes in 2015 during the nonprofit's inception, according to his Truth & Liberty Coalition bio.
USA TODAY contacted My Faith Votes on Saturday, July 26, but has not received a response.
The Tamburino Law Group, whose attorneys served as Yates' legal counsel in the case, told USA TODAY in an email, "We are not commenting on this matter."
What did Jason Yates do?
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA TODAY, an individual gave the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension a hard drive that contained child sexual abuse images on July 31, 2024. The person told agents that they received the hard drive from a relative of Yates who "accidentally discovered it" inside a dresser in the former CEO's office in McLeod County, Minnesota, according to the affidavit.
Yates' relative stumbled upon the child sex abuse images when they tried putting the hard drive in their computer for more storage, the affidavit reads. The hard drive contained more than 100 sexually explicit images of children, according to the document.
When agents met with Yates on Sept. 13, 2024, he confirmed that the child sex abuse images on the hard drive did not belong to the relative who found them, the affidavit states. He also told the agents that he had a prior conviction for possessing child sex abuse images, but it had been expunged, the document continued.
What is My Faith Votes?
My Faith Votes describes itself as a "non-partisan movement" that motivates Christians in the U.S. to vote in elections, according to the Fort Worth, Texas-based nonprofit's website.
"We desire to see an America where God is honored in the public square and biblical truth is advanced in our culture," My Faith Votes' website states.
The nonprofit was founded in 2015 by Sealy Yates, an attorney who previously served on President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory board, according to Politico. He is also Jason Yates' uncle, according to Christian news site The Roys Report. Both are also literary agents representing Christian authors.
While My Faith Votes claims to be "non-partisan," the nonprofit has backed several Republican officials and conservative views, including anti-abortion.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was My Faith Votes' honorary national chairman before becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Israel under Trump's administration, according to the nonprofit. Dr. Ben Carson was the founding honorary national chairman for the nonprofit before he became the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Trump's first presidency.
Jason Yates is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29, according to Minnesota court records.
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