Director of Vermont child evangelism organization caught in FBI child sex sting
Note: This story contains details about the sexual abuse of children.
The FBI arrested the Vermont state director of a child evangelism organization last week, after he allegedly told an undercover agent that he wanted to rape a 9-year-old girl.
Andrew Buzzell, 34, responded to an online post asking if “any pervs” were interested in “Taboo Young” children, according to FBI Special Agent John Krawczyk. When an undercover investigator asked the independent Baptist church elder, “What is (too) young?” Buzzell reportedly texted back, “There’s no such thing.”
He now faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The church where Buzzell served removed him from leadership and membership in a unanimous vote Saturday.
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“We desire complete justice,” Green Mountain Baptist Church, in Center Rutland, said in a statement posted online, “as well as comfort and healing for all impacted individuals.”
The church asked for prayers for Buzzell’s wife and urged anyone with information related to the allegations to contact the FBI.
Child Evangelism Fellowship of Vermont (CEF) told the Roys Report (RR) that it has “zero tolerance for such misconduct” and “the individual in question has been terminated.” The group currently runs three after-school evangelism programs in the state, with to launch 29 more.
‘Particularly alarming,’ given Buzzell’s role
Federal prosecutor Michelle M. Arra told a federal court on Tuesday that Buzzell’s role as a director of the child evangelism organization made the allegations against him “particularly alarming.”
“Buzzell’s work necessarily involves, and arguably is exclusively focused on, children and youth ministries,” Arra said. “Buzzell solicited photos of the supposed nine-year-old female and made various statements … discussing the specifics of a desired sexual encounter.”
The 34-year-old, who lives in West Rutland in a rural part of Vermont known for marble quarries, started volunteering for the state’s CEF in 2023, according to public tax records.
Buzzell had little previous experience teaching people to share a message of sin and salvation with children. According to his social media posts, he studied educational psychology and ministry at Pensacola Christian College, a fundamentalist Baptist school in Florida. But when he moved back to Vermont and got married in 2015, Buzzell went to work as a cabinet maker.
One year after he started at CEF, however, he was made state director. Fundraising revenue increased 127% in his first year, according to tax records, and Buzzell was given an annual salary of $43,500.
He also rose in leadership at his small Baptist church, an independent congregation whose ministers frequently quote Puritan theologians, including Jonathan Edwards and John Owen. Buzzell served as a deacon and then elder.
Secret life online
At the same time, according to federal prosecutors, Buzzell was going online under the usernames “kinkyvt1231” and “woodman1241” and sharing obscene images of children.
In December 2024, he allegedly shared three images and a one-minute video on the anonymous messaging app Kik. The video showed a girl between the ages of 6 and 10 being raped on a bed, according to the FBI.
The messaging app reported the suspected child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The report said the username was connected to an email that included Buzzell’s last name and first initial. Kik also shared the user’s internet protocol address, which designates the individual device that connected with the network.
In October 2025, Kik filed a second report with the child safety organization. Someone with the same internet address, but using a second account name, appeared to be sharing images that included “the lascivious exhibition of the anus, genitals, or pubic area” of a child.
Then in June 2026, someone calling themselves “Princesspantyboy” responded to an online ad for “Taboo Young” sex, according to the FBI investigation. The ad was part of a sting operation run by the Violent Crimes Against Children unit. An officer pretended to be a woman inviting men to rape her daughter for a fee.
“Princesspantyboy” said he was very interested. He identified himself in a text exchange as a 34-year-old male in New England and asked immediately to see pictures, Special Agent Krawczyk told the court.
‘How rough would I be allowed to be?’
When the undercover investigator said the child was only 9, “Princesspantyboy” texted back, “Such a perfect age,” according to the criminal complaint. The man allegedly added that “girls need to be trained” to be raped “as young as possible.”
He also texted, according to the FBI, that he had a 10-year-old niece that he wanted to “train.”
The undercover agent tried to get “Princesspantyboy” to agree to drive to Philadelphia to meet in person. The man was interested, according to Krawczyk, and he asked a bunch of questions about a potential sexual encounter.
“How rough would I be allowed to be?” he asked.
But then the man protested that the proposed meeting site was too far away, and he was too busy, according to the FBI.
Federal agents subpoenaed the user information and tracked the online activity back to an email, phone number, name and physical address. All the information from the three different online accounts connected to Buzzell, Krawczyk told the court. The agent said he believes all three usernames belonged to the director of the child evangelism organization.
Law enforcement officers arrested Buzzell at his home on a quiet residential street on Aug. 7. When they interviewed him, he allegedly confessed to sharing the obscene materials online and texting someone he thought was advertising child rape.
When law enforcement asked Buzzell about his niece, he allegedly said he was thinking about a 10-year-old that he knew through church. He was, according to the FBI, actively considering the possibility of raping her.
“This … was a real child,” the assistant U.S. attorney said on Tuesday. “The weight of the evidence against Buzzell is strong.”
The federal government has, so far, only filed a single charge: knowingly distributing material that contains “child pornography.” The crime carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Buzzell was released on bond to await trial. He is required to stay at home, stay off the internet and avoid all unsupervised contact with children.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 31.
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