Youth pastor Phillip Terrell was convicted of molesting two boys after pleading guilty. Terrell was the youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Georgia. Terrell was already sentenced to 15-years in prison for a similar offense.
Tuesday’s plea hearing marked the second time Terrell has pleaded guilty to child molestation. Last month Terrell pleaded guilty in Forsyth County Superior Court to molesting a teenage boy who was also a victim in the Hall County case and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The sad thing is that this did not need to happen. Terrell had a history, they hired him without a background check.
Terrell was hired by Emmanuel Baptist in 2003, two years after he was acquitted of child molestation in Paulding County. Church officials were unaware that Terrell had been charged with molesting a boy in 2001 while working as a juvenile detention center guard.
A judge found Terrell not guilty of that charge in a bench trial.
Terrell will serve 18 years in prison. If he survives, he will face 32 years of probation. If the Baptists are still hiring, he will have no problem finding a job.
