Former Raleigh youth minister pleads guilty in child exploitation case

A Raleigh youth minister who worked with children at First Baptist Korean Church of Raleigh and studied at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has pleaded guilty in a child exploitation case that began with an online tip and ended with police searching seminary housing in Wake Forest. Aaron Luke Bradley, 31, must register as a sex offender for 30 years after admitting to soliciting third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

The case has put a hard spotlight on the safeguards youth-serving institutions rely on, including background checks, supervision and digital monitoring. Bradley had been working at Living Hope Raleigh, the English-speaking congregation of First Baptist Korean Church of Raleigh, and had joined the church in 2022 before leaving after the charges surfaced. A church spokesperson said he was fired immediately from his youth-minister role working with the elementary department.

Wake Forest police executed a search warrant on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That tip came after Kik reported a user sharing a video showing a young girl performing a sex act on an adult. Investigators tied the activity to a Wake Forest IP address and traced it to student housing at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Bradley was pursuing his master’s degree. The seminary, located in Wake Forest, says it has more than 5,000 students and prepares students for local church and mission service.

Court records and search warrants described a pattern of concealment. They said a Gmail account listed Bradley’s age as 16 even though he was 25 at the time, and that a TikTok repost discussed attraction to younger people. Investigators also found a second Kik account created after the first was suspended, along with attempts to hide his IP address by using VPNs. Prosecutors said 11 images of child sexual abuse material were found on his phone, and the victims were believed to be between 9 and 12 years old.

Bradley pleaded guilty Monday to soliciting third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor as part of a plea deal. Three remaining second-degree exploitation charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, which the judge said he had already served.

The broader numbers show how large the child-safety reporting pipeline has become. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says its CyberTipline is the nation’s centralized reporting system for online child exploitation, and it received 20.5 million reports in 2024. In North Carolina, the State Bureau of Investigation has said it received more than 5,000 reports of children being groomed or exploited online in 2019, with that figure projected to reach 33,000.

Parents and congregations should ask youth-serving organizations whether every adult is fingerprinted and re-screened, who reviews messages and social media contact with minors, what rules govern apps like Kik and TikTok, and how quickly staff must report suspicious behavior to police and child-protection authorities. In a county where churches and seminaries shape daily life, the question is not only who was arrested, but what warning signs were missed.