VB pastor arrested in sex sting files to erase police records; 13 others convicted in same operation

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — More than a year after an undercover operation in Chesterfield County resulted in the arrests of 17 men accused of soliciting sex from minors, some cases are still playing out, including that of Virginia Beach Pastor John Blanchard.

Blanchard’s case was one of three in this sting in which charges were nolle prossed, or more commonly known as dropped, by the Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Thirteen other defendants were found guilty on at least one charge, and one additional defendant still has upcoming court dates.

According to the Chesterfield County Police Department, during the two-day operation in October 2021, detectives from the Special Victim’s Unit arrested suspects who believed they were soliciting sex from minors through online and social media platforms. Authorities said that the men thought they were chatting with minors, but were, in reality, communicating with undercover detectives. Police told 8News at the time that the suspects drove to a motel to meet young girls for sexual relations, but were met by authorities and handcuffed instead.

In October 2022, the charges against Blanchard of felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution were dropped. Blanchard was serving as a pastor at Rock Church International in Virginia Beach at the time, prompting the church to release the following statement on social media:

On Tuesday morning, October 11, prosecutors for the Chesterfield County Courthouse dropped all charges against Pastor John Blanchard. The prosecutor in a statement to the Court indicated that due to new information coming to light and lack of evidence, they will no longer be pursuing charges against Pastor Blanchard. This exoneration comes after nearly 11 months of delays and continuances. The defense attorney stated Tuesday that he was pleased with the outcome.

Pastor Blanchard has continually professed his complete innocence in this case. During this time, he stepped back from his pastoral duties at the Rock Church Int’l in Virginia Beach, Virginia, handing over the oversight of the congregation to Bishop Anne Gimenez and his wife, Pastor Robin Blanchard.

Following the proceedings on Tuesday, Bishop Anne Gimenez stated “We have always believed in John’s innocence. His humility and submission to those over him during this time has been a testimony to his character. He has spent the time in fasting and prayer and has invested much of his time in his family and education. We anticipate his resumption of church duties in the near future.”

However, as State Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) noted, nolle prossed charges do not necessarily mean an individual is innocent of all crimes.

Anderson, who represents parts of Norfolk and Virginia Beach, is also an attorney. Following the statement from Rock Church International, the delegate reached out to Chesterfield Police for documents of Blanchard’s arrest. That legal records request yielded new details about Blanchard’s arrest, including the prostitution advertisement detectives used to get in contact with suspects, text messages between authorities posing as a 17-year-old prostitute and Blanchard, and a record of his initial conversations with police following his arrest.

“I’m not trying to say Pastor Blanchard’s guilty of anything,” Del. Anderson told 8News on Wednesday. “But he was treated differently. That’s a fact, and that’s not something that we would want as lawyers or as public officials. We would not want to see somebody being treated differently or better than others in a criminal prosecution case.”

Following the release of those text messages and the police report, Rock Church International sent out an updated statement, condemning “sexual immorality of any kind and in any form” and noting that Pastor Blanchard had “voluntarily stepped back as lead pastor and from all his ministerial duties until this present situation is totally resolved.”

During a Dec. 4 service, the pastor returned to the pulpit to address his congregation, stating that he had been the subject of “demonstrably false” accusations and that he would be moving forward with legal action.

Later that month, Blanchard filed a motion to expunge the records of his 2021 arrest in Chesterfield County.

“Somebody who has had their charge dismissed, either by nolle pross or by trying their case and having it dismissed, is eligible under Virginia law to ask a court to erase the court records and destroy the police records,” Anderson said. “It’s something that is available to any person charged with any crime, if they prevail in the case. However, it’s not automatic.”

In court documents stamped with the date Dec. 12, 2022, T. Noel Brooks, Blanchard’s legal representative, filed a motion on his behalf to expunge those records. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office agreed, noting that there was “no objection to the Petition for Expungement,” and that “the continued existence and possible dissemination of information relating to the arrest of the petitioner causes or may cause circumstances which constitute a manifest injustice to the petitioner.”

Over the weeks of 8News’ reporting, there have been several attempts made to contact the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and Commonwealth’s Attorney Stacey Davenport directly. On Wednesday, 8News went to the office in person but was told to send an email, as no one was available. Requests for comment have gone unanswered, with the exception of the below statement, sent from the Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in November:

The conclusion of a case by order of nolle prosequi does not have the same legal effect as a not guilty finding. I am unable to comment on the appropriateness of public statements made by other entities regarding this, or any other, case in which my office is involved. The cases from the Chesterfield Police Department’s October 2021 sting operation, which include this particular case, involved a Chesterfield detective posing as a 17-year-old online. The interaction between the detective and the defendant in each case was different. As a result, the evidence available for use in the prosecution of each case was different, and the outcome of each case was different. Some of the cases had sufficient evidence to support felony convictions, and some did not. As ministers of justice, prosecutors are required to individually evaluate the strength of the evidence provided by the police in each case. The legal standard required for an officer to obtain a warrant for arrest is merely probable cause. A prosecutor must have evidence that proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to support a conviction in a court of law and ethically cannot proceed with charges in a case where the evidence does not meet that standard. Although this operation did not involve any actual child victims, we take all such cases very seriously and are always motivated by our mandate to protect the safety of our community.

On Wednesday, Del. Anderson filed his own motion — a motion for leave to intervene and effectively stop the expungement of the Chesterfield Police records on Blanchard.

“The problem with expungement is this: once that order gets entered, we can’t reference the police records any further, and so if this order gets entered and the police records are destroyed and then Pastor Blanchard chooses to sue me for defamation, I wouldn’t be allowed to use the police records as a defense, which is outrageous,” Anderson said. “You never give up manifest injustice. That’s always for the court to decide, and they’re consenting to it, without any facts even pled in the petition.”

Anderson is calling for a special prosecutor to be appointed on the case of whether to expunge the records on Blanchard, arguing that there could be a conflict of interest with the Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

“I filed my emergency petition to intervene, which will, I’ve been told, now, trigger a court hearing for me to at least go up as an aggrieved party and say why I don’t want this to be expunged,” Anderson said. “It is not good for the people of the Commonwealth. It’s not good for the people of Chesterfield. It’s not good for the people of Virginia Beach.”

Authorities in Central Virginia have conducted a number of undercover sex sting operations in recent months. The other cases that resulted from the same operation in October 2021 when Blanchard was arrested have the following updates:

• Carlos Angel-Valesquez, of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution. That charge was dropped.
• Jonathan M. Austin, of Midlothian, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. His case is still playing out, with a hearing scheduled for March.
• Daniel E. Boyd Jr., of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. He pled guilty last year, amending the felony charge to a misdemeanor. The charge for use of a vehicle was dropped. Boyd was sentenced to 12 months in jail with 11 months suspended.
• Nelson D.R. Dudley, of Chester, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. The former charge was amended to a misdemeanor, and the latter charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with 11 months suspended.
• James D. Eades, of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. The former charge was amended to a misdemeanor, and the latter charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with all 12 months suspended.
• Gabriel Medrano Flores, of Henrico, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. The Chesterfield County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Clerk noted that there was no record of the former charge in their system. The latter charge was dropped.
• Ricardo A. Hinojosa Gonzalez, of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution. The former charge was amended to a misdemeanor, and the latter charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with nine months suspended.
• Michael C. Hall, of Henrico, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. The former charge was amended to a misdemeanor, and the latter charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with all 12 months suspended.
• Christopher P. Kendrick, of Louisa, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. The former charge was amended to a misdemeanor, and the latter charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with all 12 months suspended.
• Franklin E. Martinez-Parada, of Grasonville, Maryland, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. He pled guilty last year and was sentenced to two years in jail with two years suspended on the former charge and 12 months of supervised probation on the latter charge.
• Joshua P. Morris, of Prince George, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. He pled no contest to the former charge and was sentenced to 12 months in jail with six months suspended, followed by indefinite supervision for a 12-month probation period. The latter charge was dropped.
• Craig T. Moulden, of Midlothian, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. He pled guilty to the former charge, and the latter charge was dropped. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with all 12 months suspended, followed by 12 months of supervised probation.
• Danzel M. Roland, of Petersburg, was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. He pled no contest to the former charge and was sentenced to five years in jail with all five years suspended, followed by indefinite supervision. Roland had also been charged with obstruction of justice without force, but that charge was dropped, in addition to the use of vehicle charge.
• Taurean R. Thomas, of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. The former charge was amended to a misdemeanor, for which was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months in jail with all 12 months suspended. The latter charge was dropped.
• Efren Mojica Yepiz, of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 12 months in jail with 10 months suspended, followed by 12 months of supervised probation.
• Sergio A. Terceros Zambrana, of Richmond, was arrested and charged with felony solicitation of prostitution. The charge was amended to a misdemeanor. He was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months in jail with 11 months suspended.