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	Ex-minister Accused of Violating Probation Again By Maggie Borman The Telegraph January 16, 2009 http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/probation_22435___article.html/heberlein_revoke.html CARROLLTON - A former Baptist minister in Greene County who pleaded guilty two years ago to sexually abusing an underage girl was arrested Thursday for the second time for violating terms of his probation. Jeffrey D. Heberlein, 45, of Fowler in Adams County, was arrested on a Greene County bench warrant for failure to report, failure to notify the court of a change of employment and failure to attend counseling. Scott County Circuit Judge Lois Bell, who was assigned to Heberlein's case, issued the bench warrant Wednesday. A motion to revoke his probation also was filed in Greene County Circuit Court, with a court date set for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28. Heberlein was arrested Aug. 10, 2005, at his home in Plainview on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a female minor. The charge, which alleged he abused the girl from June 1, 2003, through June 1, 2004, was a Class 2 felony that could have carried a sentence of up to four years in prison upon conviction. Under the terms of a plea agreement reached just days prior to his scheduled trial, Heberlein pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 22, 2006. In his statement, he confessed to fondling and having sexual contact on several occasions with a teenaged girl who had lived next-door to him when he resided in Greene County, where he had served as minister of the Mount Gilead and Berdan Baptist churches. At his sentencing on Nov. 13, 2006, his public defender, Thomas Piper, noted that Heberlein was a low risk to re-offend. Piper said he felt Heberlein could get the help he needed if he was put on probation rather than sent to prison. Piper asked Judge Bell to give "a flawed man" a chance. Bell agreed, noting that the case was a difficult one. She said she decided that getting Heberlein help on probation was better than sending him to prison, where he would have received day-for-day credit and could have been out of prison in 18 months. Bell instead sentenced Heberlein to four years of supervised probation. She ordered him, among other stipulations, to register as a sex offender; to submit to regular polygraph exams at his own expense; to adhere to conditions of probation and treatment; to verify his sexual history and verify his version of the events in the sexual abuse of the minor female. However, a petition to revoke his probation was filed in December 2006 after Heberlein failed to comply with the 12 conditions of his parole - specifically, by refusing to continue a polygraph test. The hearing to revoke probation kept being continued until July 25, 2007, when Bell denied the petition to revoke probation and ordered the probation to remain in effect as written. Violation of probation for the Class 2 felony with which Heberlein is charged could result in 7 years in prison. In the new petition to revoke probation, the violation report states that Heberlein has been non-compliant in regard to counseling and reporting to probation, and that he did not receive permission to miss counseling sessions. The summary of the violation report states, "Mr. Heberlein does not seem to appreciate the seriousness of his situation. He has failed to report as directed, failed to notify this officer of changes of employment, failed to attend counseling as directed and failed to submit a safety plan for the holidays. Mr. Heberlein's absences have not always been reported promptly by his counselor." The petition to revoke probation asks the court to enter an order revoking the sentence previously imposed on Heberlein and to set a hearing for resentencing. Contact: maggie_borman@thetelegraph.com
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