Joseph Todd Neill

A 38-year-old former Shelbyville youth pastor has pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing child pornography and been taken into custody.

Joseph Todd Neill was charged with possessing "violent" and "sadistic" images on his cellphone. The images were discovered while Shelbyville police were investigating a statutory rape case involving Neill and a 17-year-old female congregant at North Fork Baptist Church.

Neill had been charged and entered a plea agreement in February. He pleaded today here in U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Lee's courtroom and was immediately taken into custody.

He faces no minimum sentence but a maximum sentence of 20 years at his June 9 hearing date.

For more see tomorrow's Times Free Press.