No 'red flags' around Winnipeg youth camp pastor now charged with sexually assaulting teen: lead pastor
Carson Parago, 23, served as family ministries pastor with Centerpoint Church from May 2023 to September 2025
A 23-year-old pastor and youth camp director has been charged with sexual assault, Winnipeg police say.
Police allege that between August 2025 and March 2026, Carson Alexander Parago forged a sexual relationship by grooming and gaining the trust of a youth camp counsellor who was a teenager at the time.
The teen met on multiple occasions in private with Parago, who allegedly sent the teen sexually explicit material, a Tuesday news release from Winnipeg police. The alleged offences happened in Winnipeg and surrounding areas, a police spokesperson said.
Parago, who was arrested in Winnipeg on April 30, is charged with sexual assault, sexual exploitation, luring a person under 18 and distributing sexually explicit material to a person under 18, police said. He was released from custody under court-ordered conditions.
He worked from May 2023 until September 2025 as a family ministries pastor at Centerpoint Church, a church on Watt Street in Winnipeg, lead pastor Glenn Krobel told CBC.
That role included overseeing child and youth ministries, along with directing the church's day camp, said Krobel.
Parago had supervised the teen as the day camp's director until he was put on leave for an unrelated reason in August, Krobel said. He was no longer employed with the church as of late September.
The church runs criminal background and sexual abuse registry checks on all employees and key volunteers, the lead pastor said. No "red flags" came up during Parago's checks before he was hired, and there were "no glaring concerns" during his employment, said Krobel.
The lead pastor said he first found out about the allegations in March 2026, when a parent told him directly. He reported it to Winnipeg police shortly after, he said.
"Before that, I had absolutely no indication that there was a relationship between Carson and the individual, the victim.... We didn't know," he said, adding church leadership will be looking at how to improve its systems to prevent similar situations in the future.
"It's heartbreaking. It's troubling," Krobel said.
Krobel said the church's main priority is the well-being of the teen — whose age and sex have not been released by police — and their family.
The church isn't aware of any other possible victims at this point, he said.
'You trust this person significantly'
Val Hiebert, a co-ordinator with Mennonite Central Committee's Abuse Response and Prevention program, said clergy members are in a position of power over their congregants, who often see church leaders as highly trustworthy.
"When you are working with a church leader … you trust this person significantly," she said in an interview with CBC Radio's Up to Speed, adding congregants may find religious leaders "extra trustworthy."
"When that trust is exploited and the person is harmed, there's a couple of different layers of betrayal that are present."
Police said support for survivors of sexual assault includes Winnipeg Police Services victim services at 204-986-6350 and the Klinic sexual assault crisis line at 204-786-8631.
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