Local Ex-Youth Pastor Sentenced to 15 Years for Videotaping Minors

Medford, Oregon – Donald Courtney Biggs, 40, a former youth pastor at Mountain Christian Fellowship in Medford, has been sentenced to 188 months in federal prison for secretly recording minor church members in various stages of undress.

According to court documents, the Medford Police Department began investigating Biggs in December 2014 after allegations surfaced that he had sent inappropriate text messages to a minor female. The probe uncovered a shocking extent of abuse, revealing that Biggs had videotaped an adult changing at his house and had concealed cameras in bathrooms at his home and during church retreats in California.

The investigation, led by the FBI, MPD, and the Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force, found that Biggs had designed activities that required youth group members to change clothes and sometimes shower, allowing him to secretly record them. He also confessed to recording many of the girls in his youth group at his house, the church, and at several different church events.

Biggs was charged with nine counts of using or attempting to use a minor to produce a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct and three counts of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity with a minor for illicit acts involving nine different minor victims.

Biggs pleaded guilty to a single count of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity with a minor on February 22, 2017. Upon completion of his prison sentence, he will be on supervised release for life.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Anyone who has information about the physical or online exploitation of children is encouraged to call the FBI at (503) 224-4181 or submit a tip online at www.fbi.gov/tips.