Former SLO County youth pastor arrested on suspicion of child molestation
San Luis Obispo sheriff’s detectives arrested a former youth pastor suspected of ongoing child molestation in Nipomo between 2005 and 2008, a news release from the Sheriff’s Office said.
According to the release, Jeffrey Gene York, a 53-year-old Portland, Oregon, resident and former youth pastor at New Beginnings Community Church in Nipomo, allegedly “had contact with a male victim and had sexually assaulted him for years,” an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office found.
The investigation began in September 2022 when detectives received a report of the alleged molestation, the release said, after which a “comprehensive investigation” led to an arrest warrant.
“At that time, York was believed to be living in Portland, Oregon,” the release said. “Detectives were in the process of apprehending York in Oregon when on (March 27), during routine patrol, South Station deputies located a vehicle registered to Jeffrey York out of Portland, Oregon, parked in the 600 block of El Camino Real in Arroyo Grande.”
Sheriff’s deputies contacted the detectives and advised that York was in Arroyo Grande, after which he was arrested and booked into County Jail on suspicion of two counts of oral copulation by duress and two counts of lewd acts with a child under 14, the release said, along with several other charges.
York’s bail was set at $400,000, and he remains in County Jail.
