The former CEO of My Faith Votes has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. 

Jason Yates, 56, pleaded guilty to two of the eight felony counts he was charged with, according to USA Today.

My Faith Votes was founded in 2015 by Yates’s uncle, Sealy Yates, an attorney who previously served on President Donald Trump’s advisory board. While the organization describes itself as a “non-partisan” nonprofit, it has backed several Republican officials with conservative views.

Jason Yates served as CEO until August 2024 — a month after agents received a tip that he had inappropriate images on a hard drive.

“In early August 2024, the My Faith Votes board of directors separated Jason Yates from My Faith Votes and board member Chris Sadler assumed the position of Acting CEO," My Faith Votes told Religion News Service in a statement. "Over the last three months, Chris has been working with the dedicated My Faith Votes team to encourage millions of Christians to vote, pray, and think biblically about this election in America.”

Jason Yates was arrested and charged in October 2024 after a relative gave authorities a hard drive that contained the inappropriate images on July 31, 2024.  

It remains unclear the relationship of the relative who turned in the hard drive to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents. The relative told agents that they “accidentally discovered it” inside a dresser in the former CEO’s office when they tried to put the hard drive in their computer for extra storage. The hard drive contained more than 100 sexually explicit images, according to court documents obtained by USA Today.

Yates reportedly confirmed with agents that the sex abuse images on the hard drive did not belong to the relative who found them. He also admitted to having a prior conviction for possessing child pornography images, but the record had been expunged.

Yates is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.