Devin Carroll

Introduction

Devin Cyrus Carroll is a 23-year-old from Conway, South Carolina, and the former pastor of Happy Home Baptist Church in Nakina, a small congregation in Columbus County, North Carolina. On August 26, 2026, he was arrested and booked into the Columbus County Detention Center on 16 felony counts of embezzlement, with arrest warrants alleging he took a total of $57,934.13 from the church where he had served . The case is not his first: in July 2025 he was charged in South Carolina with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, an allegation that remains unproven and unresolved . Both cases are pending. Carroll has been appointed a public defender, has not been convicted of any offense, and is presumed innocent .

Background Information

Public biographies listed Carroll as pastor of Happy Home Baptist Church beginning in May 2024, and local reporting indicates he remained in the pulpit until July 2025 . The church sits in rural Columbus County, a short drive from the North Carolina–South Carolina line, and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and the Dock Missionary Baptist Association . An archived version of the church website stated that Carroll began preaching at 16 years old, and The Roys Report reports that the congregation is now defunct . Before his pastorate, he worked as an in-school suspension aide at Conway Middle School in Conway, South Carolina .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from warrants and prosecutors in Columbus County, North Carolina, described in news reporting on the case. They were never admitted by Carroll and have not been adjudicated in court; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The earlier sexual-assault charge against him likewise remains an unproven allegation.

Carroll was taken into custody on August 26, 2026, after warrants accused him of embezzling $57,934.13 from Happy Home Baptist Church across 16 felony counts . The alleged offenses date to February 2024 — on or around February 27, 2024, according to the warrants — a period in which the warrants identify Carroll as a church employee, though public biographies placed his start as pastor in May 2024 .

The warrants break the alleged total into three parts :

• $42,925 in seven payments toward outstanding loans with Advance America, a short-term lender offering payday and installment credit. The individual payments ranged from about $3,000 to nearly $10,000, accounting for almost three-fourths of the total .
• $14,685.98 in personal spending that warrants say included restaurant visits and DoorDash orders, a personal cellphone bill, payments to Grammer Law Firm, horseback riding, a trip to the Myrtle Waves water park, a veterinary visit, and retail purchases in North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia .
• $323.15 in additional retail-store purchases .

The Roys Report, citing the arrest warrant, similarly reported that Carroll was accused of diverting more than $43,000 in 2024 to cover payments to Advance America, along with nearly $1,000 in retail and restaurant purchases .

The embezzlement arrest was the second criminal case against him. In July 2025, Carroll was arrested by Conway Police and charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor; WWAY reported at the time that the alleged victim was under 16 years old . The Roys Report, citing My Horry News, reported that Carroll was accused of grabbing a 13-year-old girl in the private parts “with the intent of arousal” in May 2025, in an incident that reportedly occurred at Conway Middle School, where he worked . That charge remains an unproven allegation. The North Carolina Beat reported that Carroll was on pretrial release in the South Carolina case when Columbus County deputies booked him on the church-theft warrants .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The arrest drew coverage from WWAY in the Cape Fear region, The Roys Report, and The North Carolina Beat, the last of which described the case as having stunned a rural church that once listed Carroll in the pulpit . Reporters who tried to reach Happy Home Baptist Church by phone and email did not receive a response . The Roys Report said it contacted Carroll’s attorney, Troy Peters, for comment and did not receive a response . Reader discussion on The Roys Report’s article focused largely on how young Carroll had been when he entered ministry, noting that public biographies put him at about 21 when he became pastor .

The most concrete consequence came in July 2025, when the sexual-conduct charge ended his tenure in the Happy Home pulpit; local reporting indicates he was no longer pastor after that month . The congregation itself has since ceased to exist, according to The Roys Report .

Current Status

As of the most recent reporting, Carroll remains in custody at the Columbus County Detention Center, held on a $75,000 secured bond set after his August 26 arrest, with his next court hearing scheduled for September 17, 2026 . He has been appointed a public defender, and prosecutors have not yet presented the embezzlement case to a jury . The 2025 South Carolina charge also remains pending . No adjudication has occurred in either case, and Carroll remains presumed innocent.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 23, Carroll’s pastoral career is effectively over. His position at Happy Home Baptist Church ended in July 2025 after the South Carolina arrest, and the church he led has since gone defunct . His work as an in-school suspension aide at Conway Middle School is likewise a thing of the past, and the 2025 charge barred any return to either role in the near term . He now faces parallel prosecutions in two states — 16 felony embezzlement counts in North Carolina and a pending criminal sexual conduct charge in South Carolina — while jailed ahead of a September court date .