Former Bradenton youth pastor pleads guilty to sexual assault, sentenced to probation

A former youth pastor at a Bradenton church was ordered to register as a sex offender and sentenced to six years of probation after taking a plea agreement in his sexual assault case in Lee County last month.

Jerred Peacock, 34, who has since moved to Estero, was arrested on March 11 after his bond was revoked on a charge of sexual assault by a person older than 24 on a victim of 16 or 17 years old, according to jail records. He was originally arrested for the charge on Oct. 12, 2018, but later bonded out. He was remanded and the bond was revoked during the March 11 hearing.

The charged stemmed from accusations Peacock had sexual contact with a girl between March 1, 2018, and Aug. 1, 2018, according to a warrant, most of which was heavily redacted in online Lee County court records.

Peacock pleaded guilty as charged on May 20 as part of a plea agreement and was adjudicated guilty, court records show.

Peacock was sentenced to 72 months of probation and ordered to register as a sexual offender by Lee County Circuit Court Judge Bruce E. Kyle. He was also ordered to complete a sex offender treatment program and to have no contact with the victim, court records show. Peacock spent a total of 73 days in jail and was given credit for the time served.

He was found in a Fort Myers hotel parking lot Feb. 11 with the girl he currently faces charges of having a sexual relationship with when she was 17, court records show. He was ordered by a judge not to have contact with the girl before they were found together in the parking lot.

Peacock was still a youth pastor at a church at the time, but a church official told WINK News that he resigned before the accusations arose.

Peacock was a youth ministries pastor at The Church at Bradenton in 2016, which he said hosted between 60 and 75 teens a week at the time. The Church hosted a concert tour, The Silver Ring Thing, that year, that was to “show teens purity is about more than just waiting until they are married to have sex.”