Turning Point USA built its brand on recruiting young people and accusing its opponents of being groomers. The organization operates chapters on college campuses and — increasingly — in high schools. It runs faith tours through churches. Minors are the target audience.

And it keeps turning up next to people accused, charged, or convicted of sexually abusing children. Not once. Not twice. A half-dozen times across multiple states, multiple years, and multiple layers of the organization. Some of these are court-documented. Some are the subject of active federal litigation. Some remain allegations — serious, specific, and unanswered.

Individually, each might look like bad vetting. Together, they form something harder to dismiss.

The Sex Offender Sponsor

At TPUSA’s 2023 Pastors Summit in Nashville, Charlie Kirk told hundreds of religious leaders that if they loved God, they “must hate evil.” He called for Target boycotts over “their support for grooming kids.”

One of the event’s corporate sponsors was Rightside Up Apparel. Its CEO, Shawn Bergstrand, is a registered sex offender in North Dakota — convicted in 2014 of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor female to engage in sexual activity. He served a year in federal prison. The original indictment included attempting to entice the girl into prostitution. He remains on the sex offender registry through 2030.

Rolling Stone broke the story. TPUSA said they were “not aware” but defended the relationship on grounds of Christian forgiveness. Kirk called the reporting “a joke” and called Bergstrand “a nice person who did something wrong over a decade ago.”

He was selling merchandise at an event dedicated to calling other people predators.

The TPUSA Faith Co-Chair and the Convicted Child Molester

Rob McCoy is co-chair of TPUSA Faith, senior pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, California. Charlie Kirk called McCoy his pastor. McCoy’s son Mikey holds a position within TPUSA.

McCoy befriended Thomas Cimino, convicted in 1995 of sexually assaulting multiple girls as young as seven and eight. Cimino used a “lost cat” ruse to lure children. His palm prints sealed the conviction. He served eight years.

McCoy brought Cimino into Calvary Chapel’s Home Fellowship program — placing him inside the homes of families with children. When mothers discovered Cimino’s record in 2022 and demanded he be removed, McCoy accused them of “gossip and slander.” He invited Cimino onto a talk show where the convicted molester claimed he’d been framed. One of Cimino’s victims reached out to McCoy directly, confirming she’d been molested and testified at trial. McCoy ignored her.

Cimino appeared at a TPUSA event where children were present.

The Calvary Chapel network McCoy leads within TPUSA Faith carries its own trail. Douglas DeAndrea (San Juan Capistrano) pleaded guilty to child sex abuse in 2022 — eight-year sentence. Bruce Hollen (The Woodlands, Texas) pleaded guilty to possession with intent to promote child pornography in November 2024. Jose Lopez (Northern Kentucky) was convicted of sexually abusing two girls — life sentence. Pastors convicted of incest, trafficking arrests, hidden abuses in overseas orphanages, leaders caught in child sex stings. The list goes on.

Candace Owens put it bluntly: “This does not feel organic to me. Yes, institutions are corruptible, churches are corruptible, but this feels to me like something a bit more sinister and a bit more organized.”

The Pastor on the Tour

In January 2026, Erika Kirk — Charlie’s widow and TPUSA’s new CEO — launched the “Make Heaven Crowded” tour under TPUSA Faith. More than 30 cities. Her chosen primary speaker: Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California.

Laurie was already named as a defendant in federal lawsuits. Twenty-two Romanian plaintiffs — men and women who were children in church-run homes — allege former Harvest pastor Paul Havsgaard sexually abused and trafficked children at Harvest Homes in Romania from 1998 to 2008 on an “industrial scale.”

Havsgaard allegedly lured street children with McDonald’s meals and promises of shelter, then stripped and spanked children for sexual gratification, digitally penetrated minors, forced oral and anal sex, showed them pornography, and trafficked some to third parties. One plaintiff called it “a torture chamber inside a prison.” Havsgaard allegedly set up cameras in an attic room used as “his private playground.” His driver ran an internet café where children were “exposing themselves to strangers for money” on webcam sex sites “with Havsgaard’s encouragement.”

It wasn’t a secret. Reports reached Harvest leadership as early as 1999 — from the children, Romanian staff, American volunteers, pastors’ wives, and pastors directly. By 2004, other missionaries pressured Harvest to investigate. The inspector, Quarles, reportedly told Harvest missions pastor Richard Schutte: “Paul needs to be on that plane with you when you leave tomorrow. He doesn’t need to be another day in Romania. Get him out of here and into counseling.”

Havsgaard refused to leave. Harvest did not fire, suspend, or discipline him. They did not report him to authorities. The lawsuit alleges Laurie “engineered a soft landing” — letting Havsgaard stay in charge while slowly cutting funding until the homes “withered to nothing” four years later. After Havsgaard returned to California, Laurie publicly praised him as “a pastor who faithfully served the Lord for many years” and compared his work to Moses.

Harvest deposited $17,000 per month directly into Havsgaard’s personal account. At least $5,000 monthly was unaccounted for — used, the lawsuit claims, to buy gifts for “sexual favorites” and pay hush money.

Harvest has denied covering up abuse and called the lawsuits “financial extortion.” The church is attempting to move the cases to Romania on statute-of-limitations grounds.

Erika Kirk chose Laurie to headline her youth faith tour. She has not addressed the decision.

The Staffer and the Missing Teenager

A civil lawsuit filed November 2025 in Maricopa County alleges that Jeannette Garcia — a TPUSA employee and Avondale, Arizona City Councilmember — propositioned a subordinate for sex at a post-election dinner, offering him a TPUSA job if he agreed. When he refused and left, Garcia and two other adults (including another TPUSA employee) allegedly picked up his 14-year-old daughter from home, telling the girl her father was drunk and might become violent.

The father reached Garcia at 2:20 a.m. She confirmed she had the girl but refused to return her. The daughter wasn’t returned until the following afternoon — roughly 12 hours later — after the grandmother called Garcia from an unknown number and arranged a handoff at a restaurant. The lawsuit says the girl was left “depressed” and “terrified to leave her room.”

Garcia denies all allegations. No criminal charges have been filed. She was previously censured by Avondale City Council for calling Tom Hanks a “pedo” on X — she later said she meant the Spanish word for “fart.”

The Real Estate Agent in Epstein’s Orbit

Erika Kirk worked at the Corcoran Group in New York. The Corcoran Group handled the sale of Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion and NYC townhouse. Those specific sales were managed by a different agent.

But the connection doesn’t end at shared letterhead.

In March 2026, Candace Owens reported that multiple eyewitnesses confirmed Kirk took meetings at Next Model Management in New York between roughly 2015 and 2017. Next was co-founded by Faith Kates, who had documented ties to Epstein. Kirk wasn’t there to model. Witnesses said she was “the contact” for arranging apartments for young foreign models arriving in the city — specifically in a white building on the Upper East Side, around 68th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue.

Viewers identified a building matching that description at 301 East 66th Street. It was owned by Mark Epstein, Jeffrey’s brother. The New York Post had just run an exposé: “Inside the NYC condo where Jeffrey Epstein secretly kept his underage victims.” The listing description came courtesy of the Corcoran Group.

Owens noted Kirk did not yet have her real estate license during the period witnesses place her there. Owens emailed Kirk asking her to clarify. No response. Kirk has never publicly addressed the connection.

Kirk does not appear in the Epstein files. She has not been charged or investigated. A viral audio clip purporting to be Kirk discussing Epstein was debunked — by Owens herself.

What exists is proximity, pattern, and silence.

Romania: The Military Base, the Orphanage, and the Whistleblower

Between 2011 and 2015, Erika Kirk ran the Romanian Angels initiative through her charity Everyday Heroes Like You, operating in Constanta, Romania, alongside U.S. military personnel at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base — a NATO installation on the Black Sea.

In a promotional video, Kirk personally thanked Colonel Otto Busher III for his support.

In 2020, Ana Maria Nuciu — a former translator at the base — filed a criminal complaint with DIICOT, Romania’s organized crime prosecution unit. Nuciu alleged Busher and his aide Lloyd Sparks ran a brothel on the base where underage girls were trafficked to American soldiers. She discovered the evidence accidentally — a replacement computer she received contained the commander’s translated messages to prostitutes, including payment amounts.

Nuciu said she was threatened and told she might be “run over.” She went to local police; the commander convinced her to withdraw the complaint. She insisted the encounter be documented so that if anything happened to her, the cause would be known.

She requested DIICOT connect the case to the “Caracal-Deveselu File” — Romania’s most infamous trafficking case. In 2019, two teenagers, Alexandra Macesanu (15) and Luiza Melencu (18), were kidnapped near U.S. military installations. Alexandra called police three times from captivity. It took 19 hours for them to reach her. Gheorghe Dinca was convicted and sentenced to 30 years — also charged with human trafficking. The families never accepted the official story, refused the death certificates, and believed Dinca was a small-time supplier feeding a larger protected network. A 2012 trafficking case at the Deveselu base and a 2015 European Parliament report naming Romania as a trafficking corridor added fuel.

Under a 2001 bilateral agreement, Romania ceded the right to investigate American military personnel to the U.S. No American convictions have resulted.

Kirk’s Romanian Angels also partnered with United Hands Romania, run by Renee Crossman — who Romanian investigators determined was a member of the Children of God cult (now “The Family”), an organization historically known for using young women as sexual bait to recruit members through a practice called “flirty fishing.” Crossman was not directly named in trafficking allegations. But the organizational affiliation raises questions about who Kirk was partnering with to access orphans in a country flagged as a trafficking corridor.

Kirk has never addressed the allegations against Busher, her partnership with Crossman, or any of the Romanian threads.

The Texts With the 15-Year-Old

In February 2026, unverified screenshots surfaced of alleged 2013-2014 Instagram messages between Kirk (then 25) and a 15-year-old girl named Jillian. The messages showed Kirk allegedly commenting on the teenager’s lips and eyes, using flirtatious terms. One exchange: Kirk allegedly wrote “Hold on sweetheart, give me a sex wow” before correcting to “sec like S-E-C,” followed by “I don’t bat for the other team just yet.” Kirk also allegedly arranged a photoshoot with the minor without the mother’s knowledge or consent.

Candace Owens interviewed the girl, who confirmed they met in person only once and the relationship was primarily electronic. Owens called it “absolutely vile.” Ben Shapiro accused Owens of calling Kirk “a lesbian pedophile grooming a 15-year-old” and called her “truly sick, truly evil.”

The messages have not been authenticated. Kirk has not been charged, investigated, or arrested. Online rumors of an arrest are false. Kirk has not addressed the screenshots.

The High School Problem

TPUSA is expanding into American high schools. In December 2025, a TPUSA-affiliated group held an event at a Maryland high school. Parents were not permitted to attend. Supervision was provided by unnamed volunteers. Food and beverages were advertised as incentives.

At a February 2026 school board meeting, a community member told the board the event raised “serious concerns related to student safety, parental rights, and governance oversight.” She reminded members they are mandated reporters. A CPS report was filed.

The 17-year-old club president defended the event, saying students had parental permission. “I can’t groom children because I am a child,” he told the board. DOJ Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon posted on X that she was “looking into” it.

Conservative commentators framed the CPS filing as political persecution. None mentioned the Bergstrand sponsorship, the Cimino situation, the Havsgaard lawsuits, or the Garcia kidnapping allegation. The conversation was about whether liberals were being unfair — not whether TPUSA had earned the scrutiny.

The Question

Here is what is documented: A registered sex offender sponsored a TPUSA summit where Kirk railed against groomers. The co-chair of TPUSA Faith placed a convicted child molester in homes with children and attacked the mothers who objected. A TPUSA staffer is accused of propositioning a subordinate for sex and taking his 14-year-old daughter overnight. The TPUSA CEO chose a pastor facing federal trafficking lawsuits to headline a youth faith tour. The TPUSA CEO thanked a military officer accused of running a child brothel on a Romanian base. The TPUSA CEO took meetings at an Epstein-linked modeling agency, arranging apartments for young women in a building owned by Epstein’s brother. The TPUSA CEO allegedly exchanged suggestive messages with a 15-year-old and has not addressed it. A TPUSA high school event excluded parents and prompted a CPS filing.

If this pattern surrounded any other organization operating inside American high schools, parents would pull their kids and schools would shut the doors.

TPUSA has received none of that treatment. The question for every school administrator and parent in the country is simple: Who is in that room with your children? And does anyone running this organization care enough to find out before you do?