FLORIDA
Daily Ridge
On Tuesday, March 9, 2015, PCSO detectives charged 30-year-old Phillip Kendrick II of Lakeland with three counts of lewd battery, one count of transmitting material harmful to a minor, and one count of the use of a two-way communications device to commit felony.
On Monday, PCSO detectives were contacted by the pastor of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church. He told deputies a church member told him that the church’s former youth pastor, Kendrick, had sex with a 15-year-old girl sometime between November and January 2015. According to the church Pastor, Kendrick was no longer employed as a youth minister as of October, 2014, though he still attended the church.
During the investigation detectives learned the 15-year-old victim met Kendrick when he was a youth minister approximately four years ago while attending a youth group at the church. In an interview with deputies, the victim said she viewed Kendrick as a trusted source of support. Over the course of four years, the victim told deputies that the relationship between the two turned from a ministerial relationship to more of a personal friendship. In October 2014, Phillip told the victim he had “strong feelings” for her.
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