SAN ANGELO, Texas — A former East Texas youth pastor was sentenced to eight years in prison aftre pleading guilty to child sexual assault.
According to the Standard-Times and GoSanAngelo.com, Clinton Douglas Brackett, 34, received his sentence in a Tom Green County courtroom on Wednesday.
Brackett, the former director of student ministries at First United Methodist Church in Lindale, was initially indicted on four counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 17.
Brackett was arrested on October 19, 2017, in Smith County, by the Texas Rangers.
The arrest was the result of information obtained from a Texas Highway Patrol trooper’s traffic stop in Runnels County, according to a statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The trooper requested assistance from the Texas Rangers, who investigated the incident and obtained the warrant.
Brackett's employment at First United Methodist Church was terminated and the Lindale church confirmed the incidents occurred in Runnels County. The church said Brackett was not ordained in the United Methodist Church or considered a minister, pastor or clergy in the church or the denomination.
The church also confirmed at the time of Brackett's arrest that the incidents did not happen at FUMC Lindale or in the Lindale community.
At the time of Brackett's arrest, his social media page indicated he was previously employed at First Baptist Church in Ballinger. In a social media post on December 6, 2015, Brackett wrote he accepted the position of student minister at First United Methodist Church in Lindale and would be leaving the church in Ballinger after almost five years as a minister and member of the First Baptist Church family.
