Pastor Stephen Bates, 46, of 62 Caldwell Road, Nashua

NASHUA — Stephen Bates, for 17 years the pastor of the Bible Baptist Church at 64 Caldwell Road, was taken into custody this morning shortly after a multi-agency task force showed up at the church’s parsonage with a search warrant, police said.

Bates, 46, of 62 Caldwell Road, which is the address of the parsonage, is facing one count of possession of child sexual abuse images, but police said in a statement that “more charges are expected as the investigation continues and more digital evidence is analyzed.”

They referred to evidence contained on two flash drives that task force members found on Bates’ person during the execution of the search warrant this morning.

A preliminary review of the flash drives showed they contained “numerous images of child pornography,” police said.

The investigation into the Bible Baptist Church began back in August 2016, police said, when the Nashua department received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children “indicating child pornography had been accessed by an electronic device utilizing an IP address associated with the church,” police said in the statement.

A full story is forthcoming at www.nashuatelegraph.com.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.