Dr. John Fiedler, the former pastor of the 15,000-member Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) in Dallas, was arrested after a police raid on a massage parlor on October 2, 2024. The arrest led to his resignation from his position as executive minister of the largest Methodist church in the U.S.
Fiedler surrendered to the Carrollton Police Department on October 31, 2024, in connection to the case. The police report noted that Fiedler was being held in the Carrollton Municipal Jail, and there were delays in transporting him to the Collin County jail due to limited manpower.
Fiedler’s defense lawyer, Mark Lassiter, requested that the pastor be released on his own recognizance, citing his clean criminal record, age, and dementia diagnosis. No drugs or alcohol were reported to be involved, and the court agreed to release him on a $1,000 bond, though his lawyers contested the court’s decision.
After this scandal, Dr. Fiedler resigned from HPUMC on December 31, 2024. He had served as a pastor since 2013 and had a long history in ministry, having worked in various UMC churches in Texas since the late 1990s. Despite his resignation, live streams from the church indicated that he continued to work in some capacity.
