The United Methodist Church's Missouri Conference has suspended a clergyperson for 90 days after discovering she worked for Jeffrey Epstein in 2018 and 2019, including a stint as a property manager on his private island, Little Saint James.

The suspension of the Rev. Stephanie Remington began March 12, and a formal review was opened last week, Newsmax reported.

The conference said it learned that Remington had worked for Epstein as an administrative assistant from August through December 2018, then as a temporary property manager on Little Saint James from January through May 2019. She appears to have inaccurately described that period in annual clergy paperwork. Bishop Robert Farr suspended her from all clergy responsibilities.

Remington has not faced any criminal allegations. But the timeline alone raises questions that her public statements have done little to settle.

What She Knew and When She Knew It

Epstein had already been convicted as a sex offender before Remington ever took the job. That fact deserves to sit with the reader for a moment. This was not a case of someone unwittingly associating with a man whose crimes had yet to surface. His record was public. His reputation was known. And Remington chose to work for him anyway, first in an administrative role, then managing property on the very island that would become synonymous with his crimes.

Remington has offered two defenses. The first: "I never saw anything."

The second:

"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."

Neither statement actually addresses the core problem. "I never saw anything" is not exculpatory; it is the bare minimum anyone would say. And framing Epstein's prior conviction as mere "things that he was accused of doing" is a striking choice of words from a pastor. He wasn't merely accused. He was convicted. Remington's careful phrasing minimizes a sex trafficking conviction while she was supposed to be shepherding a congregation.

The Paperwork Problem

The suspension isn't only about the Epstein connection. The Missouri Conference flagged what appears to be dishonesty on official church documents. Remington reportedly described her employment during those years inaccurately in annual clergy paperwork.

The conference said the pastor had reported performing extension ministry through the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary as recently as 2025. But Wesley confirmed she had worked there only as a part-time contractor in 2017 and 2018. That leaves a gap. If she was telling her denomination she was doing ministry work at Wesley while she was actually managing a convicted sex offender's Caribbean island property, that is not a clerical error. It is a deliberate misrepresentation of the institution that granted her ordination and authority.

The Missouri Conference said it would not comment further. That silence may be procedurally appropriate during a formal review, but it does nothing to reassure the congregants who trusted this woman as their spiritual leader.

Institutional Accountability Starts With Honesty

The broader pattern here is one that Americans have watched play out across institutions for years. Someone with connections to powerful, morally compromised figures slips through vetting processes that should have caught the problem long ago. The institution reacts only after the information becomes public. A review is opened. Statements are issued. And the people who were supposed to be protected are left wondering how it happened in the first place.

The United Methodist Church is already in the middle of a historic fracture over theological and cultural disagreements. Thousands of congregations have disaffiliated in recent years over disputes about biblical authority and sexual ethics. For the members who stayed, trusting that their denomination would hold the line on basic moral accountability, this is not a reassuring development.

A pastor's role carries a weight that few other positions in civic life can match. People confide their deepest struggles. Parents entrust their children. Congregants extend a presumption of integrity that most professionals never receive. When that trust is violated, even by association and dishonesty rather than direct criminal conduct, the damage is real.

The Questions That Remain

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy, just weeks after Remington's reported employment on Little Saint James ended. The New York City medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide. The timing is tight enough to demand more than a shrug and a claim of ignorance.

Several questions deserve answers that the current record does not provide:

• Who hired Remington, and through what process?
• What exactly did she report on her clergy paperwork, and how did it differ from reality?
• Did anyone in the Missouri Conference have reason to know about the Epstein employment before it surfaced publicly?
• What accountability measures exist to prevent clergy from misrepresenting their activities for years on end?

A 90-day suspension is a placeholder, not a resolution. The formal review will determine whether the denomination treats this as a serious breach or a manageable embarrassment. The answer will say as much about the institution as it does about the pastor.

Congregations deserve shepherds who don't need to explain away time spent on Jeffrey Epstein's island.