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	Sex Assault Trial Continues for Canton Youth Pastor By John Froehling Daily Ledger April 21, 2011 http://www.cantondailyledger.com/topstories/x1274362777/Sex-assault-trial-continues-for-Canton-youth-pastor The trial of a Canton youth pastor charged with sexually assaulting an underage girl last spring entered its third day Wednesday. All of the first day was spent empaneling a jury. After opening statements by prosecution and defense lawyers, the alleged victim testified about four hours Tuesday. Two other teenage girls also testified for the prosecution. On Wednesday, testifying were a school guidance counselor, the alleged victim's mother and two other persons. The girl was 15 years old at the time of the alleged assault. Jason Phillips, 36, a youth pastor and associate pastor at Covenant Community Fellowship Church, was arrested May 19, 2010, following a nine-day investigation by police, which included reviewing phone calls and text messages and conducting interviews. Phillips faces one felony count of criminal sexual assault for having sexual contact with a girl between the ages of 13 and 17. He could get up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. Police have said he had sexual contact with the girl on several occasions, but none of the alleged incidents occurred at the church, and sexual intercourse did not occur. Phillips was released from Fulton County Jail the day after he was arrested after posting $7,500 bail of $75,000 bond with 10 percent to apply. Fulton County Circuit Judge William Davis is conducting the trial. He had told the jury the case was expected to take three days, but the trial has been time consuming. He said the trial may extend into Good Friday, because he did not want to interrupt the case with a three-day weekend. However, he added he had not made a decision yet. Sarah Wills, a guidance counselor at Spoon River Valley High School, testified she had met the alleged victim at school and later hired the girl and one of her sisters to babysit for her once or twice a week. Wills said she got to know the girls' mother, became like close family friends and felt like a "big sister" to the girls. She said the girls often talked about "Pastor Jason" and his wife Ashley and two children. The girls felt like they were a second family, Wills testified. Wills said she first met Phillips about October 2009. He had come to the school to sign out for the girls to leave early. The girls stopped in her office and introduced him. Wills later attended the Covenant church for the Christmas Eve service. She sat in the back row and saw both girls in the front row with Phillips and his family. They saw her and joined her and her family for the rest of the service. Wills said the alleged victim babysat for her on Valentine's Day, a Sunday. Her husband surprised her with plans to stay overnight at a hotel. When the couple came home the next morning, the girl babysitting and Wills' children were all visibly upset, Wills testified. The girl said Phillips had been there and wanted to talk to her on the porch. Wills said she had never told him where she lived. Wills testified the girl said Phillips had screamed at her that she was "going down the wrong path" and "choosing evil." He had also posted comments on the girl's Facebook page, Wills said. Wills said she felt like she had not protected her house very well at that point and thought she would get Phillips e-mail address from the church and send him an e-mail, asking him not to come to her house unexpectedly again. She added she noticed the girl talked like she had a "school crush type of thing" like a "love relationship" with him. Wills said Phillips then called her at school and said he wanted to apologize. He explained he had wanted to talk to the girl about some of her choices and quoted at length from the Bible about "evil corrupting good habits." He also talked about "inappropriate posts" on the Internet and "hanging out with rough crowds," Wills testified. She said she told him that youngsters must be given room to grow and reminded him that he was not the girl's father. He responded the girl's mother did not always make the best parental choices, Wills testified. Wills said the girl spent Mother's Day on May 9 with her in Bloomington at her in-laws' home. The girl seemed sullen and depressed. When asked what was the matter, she shrugged and said she would talk about it later. Wills later dropped the girl off at home and went home herself. Still later that night, the girl texted her and said she had a lot on her mind. She said her mother did not mind her going away on Mother's Day, and it was okay to have multiple families. But then she texted she was worried about her sister, because "Jason is a creeper." "What kind of a creeper?" Wills texted back. "He literally tried stuff on me. He tried to put his hand up my pants," the girl texted. Once or a lot? It "happened quite a bit," the girl texted. Wills testified the girl cited no specific instances. She added it was very late and she was emotionally upset, not thinking clearly. It was midnight and the next morning would be Monday, May 10. They would talk more then. The girl drove to Wills home the next day after school, at around 5:30 p.m. She then "just broke down," sobbing hysterically, Wills said. The girl said she was scared because her sister was still going to the Phillips' home. While they were talking, Jason Phillips texted the girl numerous times. She showed Wills her cell phone which showed who the calls were coming from. Wills said she told the girl to lock those text messages, because they might be needed. Wills said she then personally drove the girl home and told her to tell her mother about what had happened. The girl told her mother about the alleged incidents, and then Wills went home. Assistant State's Attorney Susan Maxwell conducted the questioning for the prosecution. Peoria attorney Kevin Sullivan cross-examined Wills for the defense. He asked her why the girl did not stay with her mother on Mother's Day. Wills said it did seem odd but the girl was like any teen with money problems. Under further questioning, she said Phillips viewed himself like a foster parent or surrogate father. There is no father in the girl's home. She said she disagreed with his role; it was not his job. She said the girl had a crush on him, in her opinion. "I got the feeling he was more than a father figure to her." Wills also said both the girl and her son told her Phillips had entered her home before talking with the girl on the porch. What about Phillips' comment that the girl's mother did not make good parental choices? "I did not agree with that. I would probably provide more guidance and discipline, but I'm a guidance counselor," Wills said. Wills said the girl had told her the inappropriate behavior had started at the beginning of the school year and continued off and on for about six months, mostly at Phillips' home. Both the girl and her sister stayed overnight there at times, sometimes for several days in a row. One time, Phillips' wife walked in and saw him lying next to the girl in a bed. The wife got mad. The girl was told to go to the basement. The first alleged incident occurred in a bed while the girl was lying down with a blanket over her, and he ran his hand up over her shorts, Wills testified. Wills said her position as a guidance counselor required her to report suspected abuse. She talked to her supervisor Tuesday, May 11, who told her she did not need to notify police, because the girl's mother had already called the police the night before. A few days later, Wills said, she made the "mandated reporter" call on a hotline anyway. The mother testified she had never married, and no adult male lived in the house with the family. She was not employed but receives Social Security benefits. There are court orders for child support, but she never receives any money for that. Her children never attended church on a regular basis. Two of her daughters began going to Covenant on Sundays and its youth ministry on Wednesdays. They enjoyed it. She said Phillips came to her house to meet her. She called him "P.J." for Pastor Jason. She never went to his home, but both girls went there. They were and still are attached to the Phillips' children, she said. The mother said her girls spent more time at Phillips' home than she liked. They got to do a lot of things there, like going out for ice cream, to the movies and shopping. They also liked to go on church trips. They could not do that with her due to lack of money. She began crying and said they would rather be at Phillps home "than be home with me." She said the girls would call Phillips by the name "Dad" and his wife "Momma Ash." The mother said she told Phillips he was overstepping his bounds in monitoring her daughter's cell phone use and comments on Facebook. "It's my place to monitor their cell phones," she said. Sometimes, she said, the girls would go to his house after she told them they could not go there. On occasion, they would stay there several days at a time. But she said she was uncomfortable when they were invited to go with the Phillips' family on a vacation to Florida. She told them "absolutely not." During cross-examination, she was asked if her daughters went to Phillips' home without permission, how could she stop them from going to Florida with that family? The mother said they had pleaded to go, argued and got upset, but she never worried they would go anyway. "That's what the police are for," she said. Under other questioning from the defense attorney, she said Phillips was like a father to both girls. "P.J. was the closest thing they had." She added, "I thought he was looking out for their best interest, but felt it was my place" to monitor their texts and Facebook. Usually, when they stayed overnight at the Phillips' house, they would text her the next morning. "She was pretty good about keeping track of Mom," she said of her daughter who was allegedly assaulted. Asked what the family did for the holidays, the mother said she did not remember what they did on Thanksgiving. "We didn't have any Christmas," she said. She added Phillips was a religious leader and thought it was fine for her daughters to be with him and his family on Christmas Day. The mother wept several times during her testimony. She was asked if she ever had any indication something inappropriate was going on between Phillips and her daughter. "I had absolutely no clue, none at all. Not about nothing like that." The prosecutor in redirect questioning asked her about parenting issues and concerns. She said Phillips provided spiritual guidance and she valued his input. Even when her daughters stayed overnight at his home without her permission, she knew where they were and usually got a call after the first night. What did she mean when she said she did not have any Christmas? She explained there was no money to buy presents, a tree or anything. There were no decorations. "My sister cooked a meal," she said. She added she allowed her daughters to go to Phillips' home on Christmas Day, because she "thought it was a better way to celebrate than sitting around home." She said she did not remember seeing the daughter in question on Mother's Day.
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