A former DeSoto County youth minister has fessed up to committing sex crimes against a minor.
Former Getwell Church minister and DeSoto Central High School assistant basketball coach Lindsey Whiteside pleaded guilty to sexual battery of a child Monday, a charge she had been indicted on by a grand jury last year. Whiteside is accused of having a sexual relationship with a female teenager between the ages of 14 and 15 from May to November of 2024, where she engaged in a pattern of inappropriate behavior with the minor, including exchanging more than 60,000 messages in that timespan.
The defendant was sentenced to 10 years under court supervision and is prohibited from making contact with the victim or her family. Whiteside will spend the first three years of her sentence on house arrest. In five of the next seven years, she will be subjected to supervised probation, with two years of unsupervised probation following. She is also required to register as a sex offender.
The sentencing followed a strong push by DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton to give Whiteside a 30-year prison stint — as he said he would for a male offender. Barton contended that the former minister’s sentence is lenient and will discourage future victims from stepping up and notifying law enforcement of sexually explicit acts committed against them.
“This is the wrong message. It is very, very difficult for a victim of a crime, especially a child, to come forward and then to have her voice silenced by a horrible, horrible sentence, miscarriage of justice, makes it even more difficult for future victims to want to come forward and be brave,” Barton said in a press conference.
Whiteside was reportedly the church figure who assigned seating and sleeping arrangements for youth trips. She is accused of using her role for nefarious purposes, according to testimony from a family member of the victim.
But while Barton and others spoke out against Whiteside and her actions, the former minister had supporters. Michele Henley, the District 2 representative on the DeSoto County School Board, wrote a letter backing the defendant’s character. For that, the district attorney called on Henley to resign from her post.
“When people in prominent positions like Michele Henley, a vice principal, teachers, and church members write letters to the judge, it creates a safety net for the sentencing judge to deviate from every acceptable measure of justice,” Barton wrote on social media.
“If you are wondering why a judge would feel comfortable giving house arrest to a predator, when the victim and State were requesting the maximum sentence (as I would have likewise done for a male offender, or a Memphis criminal), then you can look no further than people like Michele Henley.”
Henley was not the only person to rush to Whiteside’s defense. A source told SuperTalk Mississippi News that some Getwell church members pressured others to publicly support Whiteside, while also using Bible verses out of context to excuse her actions.
