Video: Court releases details of Little Rock’s Immanuel Baptist Church volunteer’s alleged sexual assault, investigation
Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A former volunteer for Little Rock’s Immanuel Baptist Church entered a guilty plea in court on Monday for a single count of sexual assault in the second degree.
Records show Reagan Danielle Gray of Monticello was charged with abuse of a 15-year-old boy at the church when she was 23 years old. The abuse began in 2020 and continued through the summer of 2021, while Gray was an employee of Little Rock Christian Academy and a student minister at the church, according to a reasonable cause affidavit filed in April 2024 when Gray was 26 years old.
Gray was initially charged with sexual assault in the first and fourth degrees, but in an agreement with prosecutors pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the second degree. Judge Latonya Honorable assigned Gray a sentence of six years’ probation, a $1,000 fine, required her to submit a DNA sample, be placed on the sex offender registry and have no contact with the victim.
The Monday sentence marked the end of a process that began in 2020.
According to the affidavit, the victim’s parents discovered text messages between the victim and Gray in 2020, which they reported to a senior pastor at the church. The affidavit continued that the then-head pastor, Steven Smith, confronted Gray about the messages and was told that the relationship was not physical.
Gray was then removed from student ministry and required by the church to undergo counseling, which she did, investigators said. The affidavit states that she returned to student ministry shortly after being removed.
Gray was removed from her job at Sylvan Hills Middle School as of Feb. 12, 2024.
Immanuel Baptist is currently engaged in two lawsuits, one filed on behalf of John Doe and the second on behalf of Jane Doe, alleging a cover-up of sexual abuse claims. The suits claim that additional victims are expected to come forward. Gray is named in one of the suits.
Pastor Smith resigned as Immanuel pastor in April 2024 over controversy about the church’s handling of sexual abuse allegations.