VENTURA, Calif. - Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that 69-year-old Barry Don Fike pled guilty to two felony counts after investigators said he attempted to meet a teen girl online for sex.
On Wednesday, Fike, who worked as a minister at Fillmore Church of Christ at the time, pleaded guilty to the felony counts of sending harmful matter to a child and arranging to meet with a minor for a lewd purpose.
Ventura County’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force began investigating Fike on July 10, 2023, when he allegedly began communicating online with who he believed was a 15-year-old girl. Investigators said the conversations were "sexual in nature" and that Fike shared explicit photos of himself with the girl. Instead, he was actually communicating with an undercover officer.
Fike was arrested a week later.
Officials added the chat room Fike was allegedly using didn’t have any safety features in place to verify ages.
Fike was a minister and previously taught at Oaks Christian High School and Pepperdine University.
His sentencing is scheduled for July 15 at 9 a.m. at the Ventura County Superior Court.