Former Bluff Dale youth minister pleads guilty to online harassment in misdemeanor plea deal.
Updated: Jun 26
Ryan Ivy managed to escape his bad behavior without a felony conviction, but he didn’t get away completely unscathed.
The former Bluff Dale youth minister whose trial for online solicitation of a minor last year ended in a hung jury, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the misdemeanor offense of online harassment.
He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, probated for two years, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and court costs.
He was also ordered to perform 60 hours of community service and instructed to not have any electronic communications with individuals under the age of 17.
Ivy now lives out of state and no longer works in the ministry.
His victim and her family were not in court Wednesday and declined to comment on the case, citing a pending civil lawsuit.
THE BACK STORY
Ivy went on trial last December for the felony offense of online solicitation of a minor.
He was accused of engaging in sexually explicit online conversations in 2020 with a child under the age of 14.
At the time, the 42-year-old Ivy worked at Bluff Dale ISD as an aide and youth minister at Bluff Dale Baptist Church.
During two days of testimony, jurors were shown a string of messages between Ivy and the victim, who was a cheerleader at Bluff Dale Middle School, that included talk of three-way and oral sex.
Several times throughout the exchange, Ivy stated he was concerned that his words would land him in jail.
After the allegations came to light, church officials allowed Ivy to keep his role as a youth leader for two additional months.
During that time, Ivy was badly beaten by a father of a different girl with similar allegations.
Ivy did not report the assault to authorities and the case was never prosecuted.
HUNG JURY
Ivy’s felony trial ended with a hung jury.
District Attorney Alan Nash had originally planned to retry the case, but changed his mind after learning that 11 of the 12 jurors voted to acquit.
He explained his decision to charge Ivy with misdemeanor online harassment in a letter to Beneath the Surface News.
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