Former church volunteer under investigation after sending inappropriate messages on Snapchat

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A former church volunteer is being investigated by Greenfield Police for inappropriate Snapchat messages that were sent to young people who go to the church.

The Ridge Community Church says this person was a volunteer and hasn't been affiliated with the church for more than a year, but the recent messages he was sending on Snapchat are still alarming.

"i think it was a wave of emotions hit when we were made aware of what the situation was," says church spokeswoman Jodi Tonarelli. 

A shocking revelation at the Ridge Church in Greenfield after members discovered that a former volunteer was sending inappropriate messages to teenagers on Snapchat.

"A pastor here on staff got a text message from one of our high school students saying that she had received some 'fishy' Snapchat messages from a former volunteer who had moved out of state about a year and a half ago," says Tonarelli. "Our staff member was in the doors of a local police station reporting it and just asking them for advice on what their next steps should be."

The church found out last Thursday.

They wouldn't go into detail about what those messages said, but after more investigating, church officials found out that two other students received messages from the former volunteer recently.

"Whether or not this rises to anything that's illegal, we were saddened and sickened because morally and ethically it's just not appropriate for our standards," she says.

Greenfield Police say they don't believe this man has reached out to other underage people in the area, but they say it's a sensitive matter that they're looking into.

"We want our staff and our community to know that our standards are the highest possible," she says.

The church says they don't believe any inappropriate messages were sent while the former volunteer was with the church.

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