A Missouri pastor has been suspended for 90 days after The United Methodist Church's Missouri Conference said it learned she worked for Jeffrey Epstein in 2018 and 2019 and appeared to have inaccurately described that period in annual clergy paperwork, opening a formal review that church leaders said began last week.
The case has drawn attention because the conference said it had no prior knowledge of the association and because Epstein had already been convicted as a sex offender before the pastor took the job.
The Missouri Conference said Bishop Robert Farr suspended the clergyperson from clergy responsibilities for 90 days beginning March 12, while a supervisory response process unfolds.
The conference added that the pastor had reported performing extension ministry through the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary during the relevant years and as recently as 2025, but that Wesley confirmed she had worked there only as a part-time contractor in 2017 and 2018.
UM News identified the pastor as the Rev. Stephanie Remington and reported she worked for Epstein as an administrative assistant from August through December 2018 and as a temporary property manager on Little Saint James from January through May 2019.
Remington said she never saw abuse on the island.
"I never saw anything," Remington told UM News.
"I knew him for the last nine months of his life, well after he served time for the things that he was accused of doing," she said.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy.
The New York City medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide.
The Missouri Conference said it would not comment further while the matter remains under review, but said clergy are expected to uphold high moral and spiritual standards and acknowledged the harm connected to Epstein's crimes.
Currently, Remington has not faced any criminal allegations.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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