Wade Booth

Introduction

Wade Booth is a 70-year-old Baptist pastor who was arrested on Aug. 31, 2026, and charged in Linn County District Court with multiple felony sex crimes — allegations that brought an abrupt end to public anonymity for a man who had spent nearly five decades in ministry. According to a court document, Booth faces two counts of aggravated incest, one count of unlawful sexual relations — teacher with student over 16 years old — and one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness or victim under 18 years old. At the time of his arrest, he had served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pleasanton, Kansas, since 2007. The charges are allegations: Booth has not been tried, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Background Information

Booth’s ministerial background in the region dates to the late 1970s and spans Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He has served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pleasanton since 2007, according to the church’s website. Pleasanton is about 70 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, roughly an hour’s drive away — a small town where a longtime pastor is a prominent community figure.

According to his church biography, Booth graduated from Springfield, Missouri’s Baptist Bible College in 1981. He went on to serve as pastor of Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Harper, Kansas, for 12 years before working as a missionary church planter in Oklahoma. From 1997 to 2005, he started two churches in that state before eventually moving to his current pulpit in Pleasanton in 2007. A booking photograph released by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office appeared alongside the initial reports of his arrest.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Booth was booked into custody at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2026, according to Linn County jail records, and was booked into the Linn County Justice Center that Monday night. He was subsequently charged in Linn County District Court with numerous counts of child sex crimes: two counts of aggravated incest, one count of unlawful sexual relations — teacher with student over 16 years old — and one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness or victim under 18 years old, according to a court document. Booking records summarized the accusations as including unlawful sexual relations with a minor and witness intimidation. Every count remains an allegation at this stage; Booth has not been convicted of anything.

The court documents describing the accusations did not lay out the alleged conduct in detail in the available reporting, and the reports did not identify the alleged victims by name.

Public Reaction and Consequences

News of the arrest circulated through regional coverage in the states where Booth had ministered, with the KCTV report picked up by Gray Local Media stations including KY3 in Springfield, Missouri, and FOX10 in Mobile, Alabama. KCTV reached out to the First Baptist Church of Pleasanton for comment and was awaiting a response, and the church did not immediately comment on Booth’s arrest. The initial reports did not include any public statement from Booth himself.

The immediate consequence of the charges was Booth’s incarceration: rather than continuing his pastoral duties, he was behind bars in the Linn County jail ahead of any trial, held on a bond set at $750,000.

Current Status

Booth made his first court appearance on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. He is being held in the Linn County Jail, at the Linn County Sheriff’s Correctional Facility, on a bond of $750,000. He is scheduled to be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 15. As of the most recent reports, the First Baptist Church of Pleasanton still had not responded to requests for comment on his arrest.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The arrest placed a ministry of nearly five decades under criminal scrutiny overnight. A man whose career had been built across three states — a Bible college graduate, a pastor in Harper, Kansas, a church planter in Oklahoma, and finally the pastor of a small-town Kansas congregation since 2007 — was suddenly identified in headlines by his felony charges rather than his ministry. The reports did not say whether he remains pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pleasanton, and the church’s silence left the question of his pulpit open. Whatever the outcome of the preliminary hearing set for Sept. 15, the case stands unresolved in the public record: Booth has been charged, not convicted, and he is presumed innocent until the allegations are tested in court.