PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News
By Michael Rellahan, Daily Local News
POSTED: 03/31/17
WEST CHESTER >> A proposed plea that would have sent a former youth pastor at a Chester County mega-church to prison for at least two years for allegedly having sex with a teenage parishioner was scuttled when the judge hearing the case refused to accept it, after hearing the victim say she thought the man deserved more time behind bars.
Common Pleas President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody Wednesday rejected the plea that had been brought to her by Assistant District Attorney Emily Provencher, the prosecutor handling the case, and defense attorney Evan Kelly of West Chester, representing former pastor Jacob Matthew Malone, who saw the young girl become pregnant with his child.
Cody called the circumstances surrounding the interactions between Malone and the complainant, now 20 and living with her child in Arizona, “way too serious,” according to accounts of the proceeding.
“Given the facts of this case, I’m not going to accept this plea,” Cody said.
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