A Canton man who previously worked as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in multiple eastern Ohio communities has been convicted of a violent felony involving a teenage girl.
Jesse Santos entered a guilty plea in Ashland County Common Pleas Court to an abduction charge, a third-degree felony, resolving a criminal case tied to allegations from a 2024 camping trip in Ashland County. The case involved a 14-year-old girl from Lake Township.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed several other charges, including kidnapping, multiple sexual offense counts and a child endangerment charge. The original indictment included a first-degree felony kidnapping count and additional felony and misdemeanor charges.
Prosecutors said the case was resolved after consultation with the victim and her family, allowing the matter to conclude without requiring the child to testify in court. The abduction conviction is considered a violent offense under Ohio law and cannot be removed from Santos’ criminal record.
Santos was taken into custody Feb. 15, 2025, by the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. His jury trial had been postponed multiple times and was most recently scheduled to begin in late January.
He remains free on bond under electronic monitoring and is set to be sentenced March 5. The charge carries a potential prison sentence of nine to 36 months.
Before his arrest, Santos served at the Canton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Plain Township and had connections to Adventist congregations in Massillon and Wooster.
Following the arrest, the Ohio Conference of Seventh-day Adventists placed Santos on administrative leave and reported cooperating with law enforcement while emphasizing the safety of the community and church members.
