Excelsior Springs youth pastor charged with statutory rape, other crimes

LIBERTY, Mo. (KCTV) - An Excelsior Springs youth pastor is charged with sexually assaulting a teenager who attends his church.

Donald Aaron Axtell is an associate youth pastor at Excelsior Springs Baptist Church according to court documents provided by the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutors charged Axtell with the following crimes this week:

• 2nd degree statutory rape
• Possession of child pornography
• Furnishing pornographic materials to minors

According to a probable cause statement, a teenager went to the Excelsior Springs Police Department on November 12 to report that Axtell sexually assaulted her.

At that time the victim told investigators the relationship between the two started in 2023. She said the relationship continued for two years.

The victim then described to investigators how Axtell allegedly approached her and sexually assaulted her during a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks during the summer of 2023.

She also told investigators the two continued to have sex regularly in church classrooms and during church services and exchanged nude pictures.

Officers arrested Axtell on November 13.

According to a probable cause statement Axtell denied the sexual relationship. As police continued to question the youth pastor he admitted that the relationship with the victim had begun “six or seven months ago.”

Axtell is currently in custody and held in the Clay County Jail.