To: Greg or e who wrote (22257 ) 8/11/2005 6:10:35 PM From: Ichy Smith Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 28931 From Todays Sun....... Catholic, Protestant they are all alike WHITBY -- An Ajax pastor whose wife is expecting their second child next month is accused of trying to lure a 12-year-old girl to a sexual rendezvous via the Internet. Kenneth Wayne Symes's Whitby neighbours reacted with disbelief yesterday when told of the 36-year-old's arrest on Tuesday. "He is a pastor for crying out loud," Audrey Castillo said, hitting her head with her hand and fanning her face. 'NICE MAN' "He was a very outspoken and nice man," added her husband, Arturo, shaking his head as he stared at a police handout photo of the man. Symes has been the pastor of the Ajax Alliance Church on Ritchie Ave., east of Westney Rd., for two years, said Det. Scott Purches. Purches said a four-month investigation began shortly after a police officer posed as a 12-year-old girl on the Yahoo chat room "Teen Oh Canada Chat" in April. An undercover online investigator was allegedly approached in the chat room by someone with the online handle "Garyneartoronto." "Over the course of the (next) four months the chats became more sexually explicit, to the point where he was willing to drive across the city and meet in a public place in the northwest part of Toronto," Purches alleged yesterday. The accused was arrested Tuesday by officers from the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit's Child Exploitation Section. Purches said five computers were seized from Symes's Whitby home and the Ajax church. He previously lived in Chatham and Regina and has been affiliated with the Alliance church since he was ordained in 1994. "I am releasing information so the public is aware of the issues and dangers of children going into these relatively innocuous or safe areas of the Internet," Purches said. 'LEAVE RIGHT NOW' Yesterday, an elderly man emerged from the pastor's home on Aspen Park Way. "We have problems in the family," he said. "You can leave right now." Symes is charged with luring a child under 14 and invitation to sexual touching