Alabama Pastor Arrested for Witness Intimidation in Sex Offender Case Involving Church Volunteer

Rare prosecution raises complex questions about church discipline, religious freedom, and obstruction

On August 14, 2025, Mobile County deputies arrested Pastor Robert Michael Wagley of the St. Elmo Seventh-day Adventist Church on three counts of intimidating a witness. According to jail records and witness accounts, several church members who had assisted law enforcement in a separate criminal investigation were subsequently stripped of their church du…