Alan Manning Chambers, the former head of a prominent "gay cure" ministry, has been arrested in Orange County, Florida, on accusations that he tried to solicit a 14-year-old boy for sex in an undercover police sting.
According to an arrest affidavit cited by local Orlando news outlets, Chambers, 54, was taken into custody in Winter Park after a months-long investigation in which an Orange County detective posed online as a 14-year-old boy living in Orlando.
Investigators allege Chambers used social media and messaging apps, including Snapchat, text messages, and Telegram, to communicate with the person he believed was a minor and to arrange a sexual encounter, according to People.
Court records show Chambers has been charged with solicitation of a minor via computer, transmitting harmful material to a minor, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, all felony offenses under Florida law.
He was booked into the Orange County Jail, initially held without bond, and later had bond set at $15,000 with conditions that include no contact with children, according to a hearing covered by local television station WESH.
Chambers is best known nationally as the former president of Exodus International, an Orlando-based Christian ministry that for years promoted conversion therapy and claimed it could change a person's sexual orientation, before the organization shut down and he later publicly renounced such practices, Religion News reported.
In recent years, he has remained a public figure in discussions around faith and sexuality, which has intensified interest and scrutiny around the current allegations.
As of Wednesday, court records did not list a plea from Chambers, and it was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney to speak on his behalf, as per WFTV.
