North Texas Youth Pastor Who Sexually Abused 14 Girls

The youth pastor found to have sexually abused 14 girls at Denton Bible Church and another church in Little Rock, Arkansas was released from prison early for good behavior.

Robert Shiflet was released from prison on January 11, 2023, after serving 25 months behind bars for repeatedly sexually assaulting two girls.

Shiflet received a prison sentence of 33 months in June 2021, through a plea agreement, as ordered by a federal judge. The judge expressed regret that the sentence was not longer.

Shiflet's victims claim that they were not informed of his early release by the U.S. Department of Justice for over six weeks. In an email to the victims, it was stated that there was no way to provide advance notice of the release due to its sudden and unforeseen nature.

Shiflet, aged 52, is currently residing in Weatherford, Texas, and is obligated to register as a sex offender. Moreover, he will remain under lifetime supervision.

Recently, Shiflet's name was added to the Texas Sex Offender Registry as he was initially registered under an incorrectly spelled name.

During the late 1990s, when the abuse took place, Tommy Nelson was the head pastor of Denton Bible and remains the head pastor today.
Shiflet was found guilty of one of his offenses which dates back to 1996. During that year, he encountered a 14-year-old girl at Denton Bible. The following year, in 1997, Shiflet led a camping trip for eighth-graders to the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. During this trip, he was able to isolate the aforementioned girl and sexually assault her. The prosecution alleged that Shiflet instructed the girl not to disclose the incident to anyone.

Last May, when addressing the congregation, Nelson asserted that he was unaware of Shiflet's crimes until 2015. However, an investigation conducted by an attorney hired by the church revealed that Denton Bible Church had revoked Shiflet's ordination a decade prior.

A letter from 2001 indicates that Denton Bible rejected Shiflet's request for a promotion to the high school pastor position due to his history of being alone with girls. Nonetheless, Pastor Nelson recommended him for a youth pastor role at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas during the same year. Prosecutors maintain that Shiflet engaged in sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl from the youth group, multiple times while he was 32 years old, including on a youth trip to Florida, while he was employed at the aforementioned church.

Back in 2005, two victims displayed immense courage and confided in a counselor at Denton Bible about their experiences of being sexually abused by Shiflet when they were minors. Instead of informing the authorities, church leaders directly confronted Shiflet. Upon being confronted, Shiflet confessed to his crimes.

It is worth noting that both of the girls who reported their abuse in 2005 were 19 years old at the time. During that period, the law did not mandate church leaders to report instances of abuse.

It wasn't until 2019 that Shiflet's offenses were publicly exposed. This occurred when the two victims who had originally informed Denton Bible about the abuse in 2005 acknowledged the necessity of disclosing the abuse to law enforcement.