Father Jacobs Gets Lenient Sentence after Admitting to Abusing Teens

By Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Lez Get Real
September 5, 2013

http://lezgetreal.com/2013/09/father-jacobs-gets-lenient-sentence-admitting-abusing-teens/

Father Philip Jacobs will be getting only a five month conditional sentence and two years of probation for sexually touching a teenage boy when he was serving in hic capacity as a Catholic priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Saanich, British Columbia.

However, that incident is not the only one that he has admitted to. Jacobs molested children and teens in both British Columbia, Canada and in Ohio, USA.

BC Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper chose not to send Jacobs, who is 63, to jail for the six months requested by the Crown prosecutor. Gropper did find that the priest did act deliberately when rubbing the young man’s leg up to the groin and that Jacobs’ attempts to claim it was accidental or absent-minded in nature was not credible.

Gropper, however, acquitted Jacobs back in March of three other charges including sexual touching and sexual assault.

Jacobs, who was the parish priest at St. Joseph’s from 1997 to 2002, apparently became close to the young man’s entire family and that the private study sessions were “an aspect of grooming” by Jacobs so that he could molest the young man.

During the trial, Jacobs indicated what kind of a danger he posed to young teens as he admitted to taking several on overnight trips where he would instruct them on how to masturbate. Jacobs was in Ohio from 1983 to 1991.

Saanich-coaSurvivors Network for those Abused by Priests or SNAP issued a statement saying that “We are grateful that Fr. Jacobs will be forced to register as a sex offender and be on probation for two years but very disappointed that he won’t be jailed. Kids are safest when predators are locked up.”

They went on to say that “Jacobs admitted molesting kids in Ohio. Nothing suggests he’s been ‘cured.’ Any prudent person would assume he’s still a danger to kids. If he won’t obey criminal laws and his celibacy pledge, he’ll very likely not obey his probation restrictions either.”

Finally, they added that “We hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes will come forward, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing. We strongly believe he has committed other crimes for which he could also be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. But it’s crucial that those who have information or suspicions about him call police now.”