Anthony Waller: The Jonesboro Youth Pastor Who Pleaded Guilty to Rape and the Civil Lawsuit That Followed

Anthony Waller spent more than 15 years working with children inside a Jonesboro church. He was a youth minister, a trusted face in the congregation, and someone families believed was looking out for their kids. In April 2016, a Craighead County circuit judge sentenced him to two life sentences for rape. A decade later, two of his survivors filed a civil lawsuit that raised a different but equally serious question: who else knew, and what did they do about it?

This article covers what is publicly known about Anthony Waller, the criminal case against him, and the civil lawsuit that followed. For survivors and families in Arkansas who are looking at their own legal options, understanding how a criminal conviction and a civil claim work differently is an important starting point. If you want to understand the broader legal rights available to people who were abused within church settings, the Assemblies of God abuse civil legal options in Arkansas page on this site covers that in detail.

Who Is Anthony Waller?

Anthony Waller served as the youth minister of Jonesboro First Assembly of God from 1999 to 2015. He also worked at the same time as a school bus driver for Jonesboro Public Schools. In both roles, he had regular, unsupervised access to children. He was known in the church community as someone who worked closely with youth, ran programs, and built relationships with kids and their families.

In 2004, a sixth grader named Stephanie Davis joined a homeschool program Waller ran at First Assembly of God. She and a friend later discovered what they believed was a hidden camera in the church bathroom. Davis said she, her sister, and her mother went to the senior pastor, Mike Glover, and he assured them he would handle it. The church board imposed a short suspension. Within days, Waller was back.

Around two years later, another girl said she caught Waller secretly filming her as she undressed in her bedroom. Courtney Blackburn, 12 at the time, said her mother reported it to Glover and he brought the matter to the church board. They prayed over it, then returned with an answer: “God told them it was just a misunderstanding.”

Those reports went nowhere. Waller stayed in his position for years after.

The Criminal Case

Following his arrest in May 2015, Waller was fired from the church and resigned from driving a bus. Police said the girls were repeatedly raped in several locations, including the church. Waller also faced 50 counts of video voyeurism and one count of child pornography. A police detective testified he found 400,000 images of child pornography and videos of young girls on Waller’s external hard drive, taken inside the church bathroom, with holes found in the ceiling and a place for a hidden camera nearby.

Waller changed his plea to guilty on the morning of the bench trial, though the trial still moved forward to the sentencing stage. The prosecuting attorney said they called several witnesses because they wanted the judge to understand the gravity of what Waller had done to these children.

Judge Brent Davis said Waller used his position in a devious manner that only satisfied his personal desires with no regard to the children, and that he was not convinced Waller’s tendencies would end. The Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney said the state did not want anything less than life, and they were pleased with the outcome.

In 2016, Waller pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and was sentenced to life in prison. That is a matter of public record. What came next took another decade to reach a courtroom.

What the Civil Lawsuit Alleges

A guilty plea in a criminal case establishes what a defendant admitted to doing. A civil lawsuit is a separate legal action, brought by survivors directly, and it can name parties beyond the individual who committed the abuse. That distinction matters here.

A lawsuit filed against Refuge Church of the Assemblies of God claims church elders knew that its former youth pastor sexually abused two children and did nothing to stop it. The lawsuit was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court and names former senior pastor Charles Michael “Mike” Glover and the church’s governing bodies as defendants.

The church connection requires some explanation. Waller’s former congregation changed its name from First Assembly of God to Refuge Church after he pleaded guilty in 2016. The lawsuit refers to this same institution by its current name.

The lawsuit claims church leaders were aware of the abuse years before the criminal case but failed to report it to law enforcement or the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline, as required by state law. Despite statements from the victims and their mother and physical evidence, the church elders chose not to involve authorities. Instead, they imposed a brief internal suspension on Waller and later allowed him to resume overseeing a homeschool program on the church campus. The complaint also states that hidden cameras Waller had installed in the church bathrooms were not removed and the videos were not confiscated, allowing the abuse to continue for years after it was first reported.

The lawsuit also names the Arkansas District Council of the Assemblies of God and the General Council of the Assemblies of God, alleging broader failures in oversight and accountability within the denomination’s leadership structure. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

These are allegations in a civil complaint. They have not been adjudicated. What has been established by a criminal court is Waller’s guilty plea and his sentence. The civil case addresses what the church and the denomination allegedly failed to do before that criminal case ever existed.

Why the Church’s Name Change Matters for This Case

Some people searching for information about Anthony Waller’s connection to a Jonesboro church may not immediately connect First Assembly of God to Refuge Church. They are the same congregation at the same location. The congregation changed its name after Waller pleaded guilty. The civil lawsuit names it under its current name, Refuge Church of the Assemblies of God.

A name change does not dissolve legal responsibility. When a civil lawsuit alleges that an institution enabled or concealed abuse, the institution’s prior history is directly relevant, regardless of what the organization calls itself today. That is one reason the plaintiffs named the church, the former senior pastor, and the denominational bodies together.

The Assemblies of God’s Role in the Lawsuit

The denomination’s inclusion as a defendant is significant. It is not uncommon for abuse lawsuits in institutional settings to name both the local church and the governing body above it. The argument, broadly, is that oversight failures at a denominational level can enable abuse to persist across congregations.

The women named Refuge Church, the Arkansas District Council for the Assemblies of God, and the national General Council of the Assemblies of God as defendants. Their lawsuit states that leaders covered up allegations of sex abuse by their youth pastor for up to a decade before police learned of the crimes.

Their attorney, Josh Gillispie, stated publicly that the case was not just about what was done to these two sisters, but about what church leaders failed to do after the abuse was brought to their attention.

For survivors trying to understand whether institutional liability applies in their own situation, the pattern described in this case reflects a broader documented problem within the denomination. The Assemblies of God cover-up failures and what survivors should know article on this site explains how these reporting failures have played out and what the law requires of churches in Arkansas.

What This Case Means for Survivors in Arkansas

The Anthony Waller case illustrates something that comes up repeatedly in church abuse litigation: the criminal case and the civil case are not the same thing, and they do not serve the same purpose.

The criminal case punished Waller. He is serving two life sentences. But a criminal conviction does not compensate survivors. It does not hold the institution accountable. And it does not address the years of silence that, according to the civil complaint, allowed the abuse to continue long after the first reports were made inside the church.

A civil lawsuit can do those things. In Arkansas, survivors of childhood sexual abuse have legal options even if years have passed. Civil claims can be brought against individuals, churches, and denominational bodies when there is evidence that those entities knew about abuse and failed to act.

The two sisters who filed this lawsuit were reportedly between the ages of 10 and 13 when the abuse began. They are now adults in their early 30s. That gap between when the abuse was reported internally and when it finally reached law enforcement is exactly the kind of institutional failure that civil litigation is designed to address.

If You Were Abused in a Church Setting

Not every survivor is ready to file a lawsuit. That is a personal decision, and there is no single right path. What matters is knowing that a civil legal option exists, that it is separate from the criminal process, and that an attorney who handles these cases can walk you through what the statute of limitations looks like for your specific situation in Arkansas.

The Gillispie Law Firm represents survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Arkansas, including those who were abused in church settings. If you or someone you know was harmed by a pastor, youth minister, or other church leader, and you want to understand your rights, reach out for a confidential consultation. There is no cost to talk, and no obligation to move forward unless you choose to.