Former Saskatoon youth pastor charged with luring a child online

A former Saskatoon youth pastor has been charged for attempted aggravated assault and luring a child online after a police officer, acting as a 15-year-old boy on a social media forum, agreed to meet the man for a sexual encounter.

Kris Allan Gowdy, who worked as a youth pastor at Lakeview Church, located in southeast Saskatoon near Highway 16 and Boychuck Drive, was arrested Thursday in Ontario during a police sting.

The 42-year-old, who was working as a youth pastor with the Free Methodist Church in Courtice, Ont., approximately 60 kilometers east of Toronto at the time, met with police at a prearranged location where he was subsequently taken into custody.

Police said Gowdy, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2009, had an extensive social media presence.