🚨UPDATE: Former LifeWise teacher Christopher Riggs sentenced to prison.
Christopher Riggs, a former LifeWise Academy teacher and Zanesville (Ohio) pastor, has been sentenced to 17 months in prison after pleading guilty to gross sexual imposition and two counts of voyeurism involving a minor. He will also be required to register as a Tier I sex offender for 15 years following his release.
Since SEA first reported on this case, additional public information has clarified several details.
👉Court documents cited by news outlets report that Riggs and the victim did not meet through LifeWise.
👉Separately, the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office stated that at the time of the crimes, the victim was not a member of the church where Riggs served as pastor.
Those are important clarifications; but they are also limited. Please pay attention to the verify specific wording “at the time of the crimes” and “did not meet through”.
🚩They do not establish whether the victim ever attended LifeWise, whether the victim ever attended Riggs’ church before the crimes, whether Riggs later interacted with the victim through LifeWise, or whether the abuse overlapped with his service as a LifeWise teacher. The public record simply does not answer those questions.
🚩 The public timeline also shows that Riggs remained a LifeWise teacher until his resignation in November 2025. The gross sexual imposition charge covered conduct that occurred between June and September 2023, and the voyeurism charges occurred in November 2025. * While reporting states the victim did not meet Riggs through LifeWise, the public record does not establish whether his position as a LifeWise teacher later overlapped with or influenced that relationship.
As always, SEA is committed to accuracy. When new information becomes available, we update our reporting. Accuracy matters.
The facts we know today are that Christopher Riggs served as a LifeWise teacher, later pleaded guilty to sex offenses involving a minor, and has now been sentenced to prison.
Reporting linked in comments.
What people are saying:
- Secular Education Association: https://www.muskingumprosecutor.org/News-Events/Zanesville-Man-Sentenced-For-Sexual-Assault-Of-A-Minor/416/
- Facebook User: Funny how our comedy section and Lifewise cheerleaders are oddly silent Secular Education Association ?
- Facebook User: Facebook User we know that they master special filter.
- Facebook User: Because there is no real oversight to lifewise “teachers”. Don’t send children to this propaganda machine.
- Facebook User: 17 months is not enough time. Ugh. Less than 2 years!
- Facebook User: Not surprised. 🤮 Also, not a drag queen, immigrant, or trans individual.
- Facebook User: I need to know if lw is required to inform the parents their. Hild had contact with this man via their program. They are not mandated reporters we know.
- Facebook User: Facebook User nope.
- Facebook User: Good.
- Facebook User: Beware! Lifewise is full of red hat wearing pedophiles!
- Facebook User: Another trumper with a crooked as mouth and eyes.
- Facebook User: Why only 17 months? This is a predator.
- Facebook User: It’s always a Rape-ublican
Leave a Reply