Trials began last week for four men arrested in Aurora on March 10 who intended to have sexual relations with a minor. Aurora resident, Olatokunbo Olawoye, one of the men arrested, was employed as an ad director at Carol Stream-based magazine Christianity Today. In a statement to Beacon News soon after the arrest, Human Resources Director Richard Shields said that Olawoye was on https://thewheatonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_0048.webpistrative leave from his position because of the situation, although he would not specify whether this leave was paid or not.
Authorities caught the four men in a sting operation organized jointly by Aurora police and Homeland Security. Each man, including Olawoye, answered an advertisement that investigators placed online, which promised sex at an Aurora hotel with underage girls, according to Beacon News. They will face charges including felony aggravated involuntary servitude of a minor which has a maximum sentence of 30 years. Additionally, the men stand charged with the felonies of traveling to meet a minor and grooming.
This is not the first time that the Aurora Police have joined forces with Homeland Security in a sex sting operation. The Daily Herald reported that similar stings were organized in December 2014 and January 2015, resulting in 10 arrests.
Christianity Today published an article about sexual abuse in Christian circles just a few years before this incident, titled “Monsters Among Us.” That article was prompted by the revelation that a different former employee of the magazine had been arrested for abusing his foster children. The article took a strong stance on protecting innocents, a stance which included thorough background checks, computer scans and watchfulness in the workplace for potential abusive behavior in coworkers. The article noted, “faith-based institutions can no longer assume that predators are somewhere ‘out there’ over the clean Christian rainbow … they are in our evangelical faculty, and work in our community non-profits.”