SPARTA, Wis. – A pastor at a storefront church, Travis Becknell, 46, was charged with fondling a woman parishioner without consent. The woman said the assault was in January 2021. She said she went to police after hearing of Becknell with other women. She provided police with hundreds of text messages, some of them sexual. Becknell is the founder of Berean Way Church in Sparta, which formerly was known as the New Hope Fellowship. To police, according to the criminal complaint, Becknell explained that somebody was trying to to “take down the church” and telling tales.
Becknell: The charge: Felony sexual exploitation by therapist.