LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. —
Update (Jan. 4, 2021): Jody Sambrick pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and related offenses.
Sambrick will serve one to two years in prison, followed by eight years of probation for the charges charges filed in 2018.
Previously
(Oct. 23, 2018): A 58-year-old Lancaster County man is facing several charges relating to child pornography after police seized several computers and accessories last month during a search of his home in West Lampeter Township.
Jody Sambrick, of the 1700 block of Pioneer Road, was charged after members of the Lancaster County Digital Forensics Unit found several images and videos depicting child pornography during an examination of the seized items, according to West Lampeter Township Police.
Sambrick turned himself in on October 19 and was arraigned on three counts of child pornography, one count of dissemination of child pornography, and two counts of criminal use of a communication facility before Magisterial District Judge Joshua R. Keller. All the charges are felonies, police say.
Sambrick is a pastor at Hopeland United Methodist Church in Lititz, according to the United Methodist Church’s official website and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church website, which lists him as pastor at Hopeland and a West District clergy member.
A person who answered the phone at the Hopeland United Methodist Church declined to comment, and the church’s website has no references to Sambrick.
Sambrick has been an ordained minister since 1990, according to his bio page on the Engage Ministries website.
