Police urge parents to talk with kids

Parents of children who attend Abundant Life Worship Center in Tyrone are being asked to talk to their children in light of the arrest of the church’s youth pastor in the ongoing undercover Internet sting conducted by Peachtree CIty police.

Police Chief James Murray is urging parents to talk with their children and inform police of any strange occurrences.

Robert Kyle Amerson, 23, of Fairburn was arrested Wednesday at his home and charged with violation of the computer pornography and child exploitation act, police said. The investigation had been going on for several months, Murray said.

Police said Amerson contacted an undercover officer on the Internet who he believed was 14 years old, to engage in a sex act. He is the 16th arrest recorded by the efforts from the Peachtree City Police Department; the one officer working these cases only does so on a part-time basis along with her other duties.

Amerson was interviewed by Peachtree City Police and his computer was seized in a search warrant, police said. Agents from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency will be reviewing the material on the computer to determine if there are any other victims, Murray said.

On the church’s Web site, Amerson is shown as a student pastor. He lists his hobbies as “Hanging with my wife, anything sports related, golf, drawing and cars.”

Responding to a question about why he has chosen his profession, Amerson says on the site: “I do it because I have been given a passion to see young people’s lives changed, in spiritual and personal ways, and I think that is why God put me here.”