FORT SMITH, Ark — A former church worker in Fort Smith has been arrested on two charges of rape of a minor under 14 years old, according to a warrant filed in the circuit court of Sebastian County.
Isaiah James Thompson, 37, a former member and youth volunteer at Christ of the World Church, was booked into the Sebastian County Detention on November 10 on two charges of rape of a minor.
According to an affidavit for Thompson’s arrest, on January 30, 2020, another adult worker at Christ of the World Church was accused of inappropriate sexual activity with a minor at the church.
Investigators interviewed the accused man and found no evidence of the alleged misconduct.
However, the worker told police about a sexual relationship that had formed between himself and Thompson. According to the affidavit, he told police that Thompson began doing sexually-explicit activities with him from around the time he was 7 years old until 2018. He told investigators Thompson was around 17 years old when the inappropriate activities began.
The man mentioned another minor that Thompson had allegedly been involved with, and investigators were able to locate him incarcerated in Texarkana. He told investigators he was familiar with the Christ of the World Church and had attended it since the age of 3.
According to the documents, he also disclosed that he knew who Thompson was and that Thompson had engaged in sexual activity with him when he was around 12 years old. He relayed an instance to investigators when Thompson sexually assaulted him after allowing him to drive the church van while sitting on his lap.
When Thompson was interviewed by police about the allegations against him, he said he currently worked for UPS and admitted to volunteering with the youth at Christ of the World Church in the past.
According to the affidavit, when detectives laid out the allegations, Thompson was shaking his head yes and not denying the contact. When detectives mentioned his first accuser, the church worker, he stopped the interview and asked for a lawyer.