Father Phil Jacobs to Be Sentenced in Early June

By Louise Dickson
Times Colonist
March 7, 2013

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/father-phil-jacobs-to-be-sentenced-in-early-june-1.87311

The sentencing of a Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually touching a young person while in a position of trust will not take place until at least early June.

Last week, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper found Father Phil Jacobs deliberately touched a young person between the ages of 14 and 18 for a sexual purpose.

The offence occurred between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001, and carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Jacobs, who was parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker in Saanich from 1997 to 2002, was acquitted of three other charges, including sexual assault and two counts of sexually touching a person under 14.

Crown prosecutor Clare Jennings asked Gropper to order a pre-sentence report and a forensic psychiatric report to assist her at sentencing.

On Thursday, Jacobs’s defence lawyer Chris Considine said he will be in court on May 29 for a progress review date to see if all the reports are completed.

“If they are completed, a date for his sentencing will be set at that time,” Considine said.

Jacobs remains under a court order to live in Greater Victoria under strict supervision.

Allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Jacobs when he was ministering in the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, Ohio. No criminal charges were ever laid.

In August 1995, he was hired by the Diocese of Victoria and appointed to the parish of St. Rose of Lima in Sooke because it would limit his access to children.

When the Ohio allegations were made public in 2002, Jacobs resigned from St. Joseph’s.

He was arrested on Aug. 4, 2010, at Victoria International Airport.

Contact: ldickson@timescolonist.com