“Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”
-Matthew 7:20 NLTSo you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
-James 2:17-20 NLT
The video below illustrate what Jesus and James, the half-brother of Jesus, addressed in the quotes above.
On November 21, 2021 Darrell Brooks drove his mother’s SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, WI, killing 6 people, maiming 61 others, and causing untold mental anguish in thousands of others.
On October 26, 2022 the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all 76 counts. Brooks chose to represent himself in this trial, I compiled the video below from his closing statement. The District Attorney, whether she realized it or not, refuted Brooks’ claim to being a Christian by saying the same thing that Jesus and James said in the quotes above.
The above information lays the groundwork for my story today.
In January 2016 I wrote an article titled “Another Day, Another Protestant Preacher Abusing Children.” The article may be viewed here or on the Wayback Machine here. In May 2017 I wrote a follow-up article titled “Jake Malone’s “Self-Imposed Sabbatical” Extended by PA Court – Sentenced to 3-6 Years.” The article may be viewed here or on the Wayback Machine here.
Based on the definitions below, Jacob “Jake” Malone is not a pedophile, rather, I believe he would be classified as a hebaphile or an ephebophile.
Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development.[1] It differs from pedophilia (the primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children), and from ephebophilia (the primary sexual interest in later adolescents, typically ages 15–19).
Source: Wikipedia
Here is a short overview of Jake Malone’s life.
“Jake Malone is a Worship Leader, Youth & Young Adults Pastor who just can’t get enough of spreading the love of Jesus through music and teaching! In addition to leading worship Jake is passionate about equipping students in the gifts God has given them. He says that from music, to leadership, to evangelism “Teenagers are the church of TODAY, and not tomorrow – its time to step up and start changing this generation from the inside out!”
Jake got his start in ministry growing up in northern Minnesota. While in high school, he founded a Christian rock band that performed and lead worship for youth groups and camps across the upper Midwest region. Jake continued his passion for worship while attending Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN by leading worship for a number of chapel services each year. Jake and Libby have a child, Ian (born 2008). Jake served as an Associate Pastor of worship and youth at Ascending Praise Church in Apple Valley, MN. After prayer and consideration Jake answered the call to be the Youth Pastor at Trinity (Mesa, AZ) beginning in July, 2009. Jake added the role of Young Adults Pastor in January, 2011.”
Source – bio on Jake Malone from Trinity Church in Mesa, AZ. (From Trinity, Malone moved to River of Life Church in Elk River, MN and then to Calvary Fellowship Church in Downingtown, PA.)
Malone met the girl he would groom and eventually sexually abuse when he was her youth pastor at Trinity Church in Mesa, Arizona, she was 12-years-old. She did not have a father in her life.
After moving to a new job at River of Life Church in Elk River, MN, Malone reached out to the girl when she was 17, inviting her to stay with him and his family at his new home in Minnesota and help look after Malone’s three children. It was there that Malone attempted to have inappropriate contact with her. Police say Malone moved to Chester County in July 2014 and again invited the victim to stay with him, registering her at a local high school.
The abuse began in the fall of that year. Sexual contact, which included touching and kissing, occurred almost daily during the teen’s senior year in high school. When she turned 18, she told police Malone served her alcohol on several occasions, and on one occasion, she became “highly intoxicated” and was molested by Malone. During the abuse, the victim told police she was attending the Calvary Fellowship in Downingtown, where Malone had been a pastor since August 2014.
Bill Bateman, one of the pastors at Calvary Fellowship, said Malone tendered his resignation in November 2015 when he was confronted by the church’s elders, and that the Calvary Fellowship staff immediately began cooperating with authorities when the allegations surfaced. Malone did not admit guilt when confronted, Bateman says, but did say he told them of a situation involving a young girl living with him that was expecting a child. Police say the victim told them Malone impregnated her just after she turned 18.
One week after Malone resigned from his pastor’s job in November 2015 he made this deceptive video.
Malone and family then fled to Ecuador. Law Enforcement was certain Malone had learned there was a warrant out for his arrest and he had fled to escape justice, but Malone had an attorney who assured Law Enforcement he was merely on a vacation and would be returning at the earliest possible time.
Upon his return Malone was arrested and placed in prison to await his trial. His attorney worked out a plea bargain but the Judge rejected it.
Jacob Malone was sentenced Friday, April 28, 2017 to three to six years in prison after entering guilty pleas to institutional sex assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment. He also must register as a sex offender for 15 years. Malone and prosecutors had reached an earlier plea deal that called for a two-year minimum jail term, but Judge Jacqueline Cody rejected that deal a month ago. “You are serving a sentence much lighter than the crime deserves,” Cody told Malone as he stood before her in handcuffs and shackles. “You have taken responsibility for a very, very serious series of crimes that have completely altered someone’s life,” the judge told Malone, who expressed remorse for his actions. “You can’t ever take that back.” Cody called it a failure of the court system that the age of the victim played a role in downgrading the crimes he was guilty of, even though he had “encouraged” and “promoted” the illicit behavior. “The things you have done are inexcusable,” she told Malone.”
Judge Cody was, IMO, correct to reject the light, 2 year sentence Malone had received, but she didn’t actually get much tougher. She sentenced him to 1-2 years on each of 3 counts, for a total of 3-6 years. Malone ended up serving one year longer than he would have in the first sentence! He was paroled in February, 2020, having served 3 years, but back in prison within a week. What follows is the reason why.
YOUTH PASTOR CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR HIRE PLOT IN SOMERSET COUNTY
On February 24, 2020, Pennsylvania State Police charged former youth pastor, Jacob Malone, with multiple counts of Solicitation to Commit Murder, and related charges, for attempting to hire someone to kill Pastor Harold Lee Wiggins and Common Pleas Judge Jacqueline Cody in Somerset County. The defendant, age 37, served as a pastor at Calvary Fellowship in Downingtown, P.A., from 2014-2015.
The defendant had been serving a state prison sentence of 3-6 years at SCI Laurel Highlands in Somerset County for sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Chester County. He allegedly offered a fellow inmate $5,000 to kill the head pastor at the church because of his involvement with Malone’s case. The defendant also told the inmate that he would be willing to offer additional money for the murder of Judge Cody, who presided over the sexual assault case.
This inmate contacted the Chester County District Attorney’s Office in July 2019, regarding this accusation. Chester County Detectives conducted an immediate investigation, including interviewing the inmate that defendant had solicited to commit murder. After concluding that Chester County had no jurisdiction over this matter which occurred in Somerset County, PA, our assigned detective promptly referred it to the Pennsylvania State Police in Somerset on August 12, 2019.
District Attorney Deb Ryan stated, “The District Attorney’s Office is deeply concerned about these extremely serious allegations. Most importantly, we can confirm that the victims involved in this case are safe. We are committed to assisting the Pennsylvania State Police and the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office in their investigation.”
The allegations from the criminal complaint (a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty) are as follows:
On February 18, 2020, Pennsylvania State Trooper Patrick Hauser contacted an inmate inside SCI Laurel Highlands. He reported that the defendant told him he “wanted to get revenge on the people involved in his case.” He told the defendant to “put it behind him.”
Trooper Hauser then contacted Chester County Detective John O’Donnell on February 20, 2020, regarding this incident. O’Donnell reported that he met with another inmate after he received letters from him about an alleged murder for hire plot. The inmate told the detective that the defendant had attempted to arrange for the murder of Wiggins and Cody while they were both incarcerated at SCI Laurel Highlands. Trooper Hauser reviewed the letters sent by the inmate and initiated the criminal complaint.
The defendant was arrested on February 26, 2020, and is currently incarcerated awaiting a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Kenneth Johnson in Somerset.
Approved for release:
Deborah Ryan
Source: Chester County District Attorney
You will see below that Malone received another plea bargain and has been sentenced from 16-84 months. I do not know how the sentence works, but if I were to guess I would say Malone will be eligible for parole after serving 16 months in prison. Since he violated probation from his first sentence he was locked up again in late February, 2020. In some states if you violate probation you are sent back to prison to serve out the entire sentence. If that is the case Malone would have to serve out the full 6 years and would complete that sentence in February of 2023. After that his next sentence would begin. At any rate, I believe since I got the information showing him to still be in prison one week ago, he is still in the iron bar hotel.
The moral of this story is we can’t see into somebody’s heart. But we can see their deeds, and if they are evil you can disregard their flowery christianese language. They have revealed who they really are.
Matt 7:16 You will know them by their fruit.
I have followed this disgusting case since its beginning because of a secondary connection. I hope he has to serve the full six years first and then his next sentence should begin. He has proven himself as a threat to innocent others.
It appears, on social media, that his wife has moved on.
Where was he during the brief time he was paroled, I wonder?
Thanks for the update.
“The moral of this story is we can’t see into somebody’s heart. But we can see their deeds, and if they are evil you can disregard their flowery christianese language. They have revealed who they really are.”
There’s a measure of flowery fluffy, warm & fuzzy, heartwarming cozy comfortableness in Christendom that camouflages hard core evil. It’s deadly.
Whoever would violate a minor, at whatever philia stage (pedo, hebe, ephebo are the ones you mention), is well on the way to being a murderer. Violating a child destroys the childhood of a person. Doing this in the name of God (I write about a man who uses “Honor thy father” for vice in “Legal Grounds”) is not only evil but sadistic.
A minor trusts parents to protect them, depends on youth pastors to disciple them for spiritual formation, and has faith in Creator God to respect them, looking out for their best interests.
This youth pastor, twisted, is most likely a serialist, and obviously a murderer. Everything LE and the DOJ is doing here is not enough.
He finally arrives and abides in a community with his own kind in prison.
Ava, you are absolutely correct. “Violating a child destroys the childhood of a person. Doing this in the name of God…is not only evil, but sadistic.” Unbelievable.
One thing I have learned in this life is that what people say is absolutely worthless. We pay way too much attention to that. What they do is the bottom line. This takes time and requires patience. The idealistic among us get hit the hardest as they are too easily impressed by flowerily words. No wonder some make idols out of their theology! Such can shove the dirt under the rug while claiming something that they make no effort to live out.
The current worse example of this is the (un)Orthodox Russian Church. They support babarby while claiming to represent Christ. It is absolutely the extreme of sacrilege.
The trail:
Student & chapel worship leader: Northwestern College, Nondenominational Christian (St. Paul, MN) https://unwsp.edu
Associate Pastor of worship and youth: Ascending Praise Church (Apple Valley, MN – was in Bloomington? Now a mosque?) – not found.
Youth Pastor at Trinity (Mesa, AZ, Mark Driscoll’s church) July, 2009. https://thetrinitychurch.com Met & groomed 12-yr-old girl.
Young Adults Pastor at Trinity (Mesa, AZ, Mark Driscoll’s church) January, 2011.
River of Life Church (Elk River, MN, Evangelical Free Church of America) https://www.rolmn.org Brought groomed girl to Minnesota, 17 yrs old. Attempted to have inappropriate contact with this girl.
Calvary Fellowship Church (Downingtown, PA., Chester County, Nondenominational Church) https://www.cfdowningtown.com Moved girl in as high school student, July 2014.
The abuse began in the fall of that year, 2015. Got her intoxicated.
Malone resigned in November 2015 when he was confronted by the church’s elders.
One week after Malone resigned from his pastor’s job in November 2015 he made the deceptive video: needed “more family time”. (What about a job? Or was there a golden parachute for the predator?)
Malone and family then fled to Ecuador***. “On vacation.”
Upon his return Malone was arrested and placed in prison to await his trial.
Sentenced Friday, April 28, 2017 to three to six years in prison.
Paroled in February, 2020, having served 3 years, but back in prison within a week for attempting murder-for-hire.
February 24, 2020, Pennsylvania State Police charged former youth pastor, Jacob Malone, with multiple counts of Solicitation to Commit Murder, and related charges.
Received another plea bargain and has been sentenced from 16-84 months.
(***Wasn’t there another MN cult leader violating young women who fled to South America?)
And then there was this:
Police say the victim told them Malone impregnated her just after she turned 18.
Old Timer,
From Todd’s post, I put together the trail of this predator’s institutional affiliations, with links to their websites. It’s in moderation, due to the number of links, probably.
As we see what these institutions look like online, we know that such institutions hide rapists and murderers. For real. Participants beware. Christian and church can be a frightening, horrifying experience, for vulnerable people and those who advocate for them (a pastor and a judge, in this case).
Christendom needs to re-examine itself minus all the age-worn bull$|-|it.
Behold the “sabbatical” explaining video with the predator and his Ghislaine Maxwell.
Obviously everyone, including the churches that hired the predator to turn their children’s program (12-year-old minor violated) and youth group into a hunting ground, thought the guy was safe, since he was married with wife and his own children. It was a fool’s assumption. Predators use their wives and kids as camouflage for their evil to hunt prey, for access to innocents: other people’s children to violate, control, and destroy.
The predator lured a person (minor) he controlled and then viciously violated into his own home, with his Ghislaine Maxwell (the cover) there, too.
Now that he’s in prison, his Ghislaine Maxwell has left the scene. She’s a witness, and she fled. Since he’s a murderer, she may be scared for her life. However, she certainly didn’t give a rip about the minor being violated in her home under her watch, for years, in various locations. And she is an adult. AS an adult, she enabled the monster from the get-go. She married him and stuck with him throughout a long tenure of his monster career destroying the lives of others.
Obviously, this Ghislaine Maxwell enjoyed being a pastor’s wife. The rest was overlookable. As long as he was a pastor – even a criminal pastor, everything was OK. The deal breaker was when he went to prison, and he was no long a pastor. Note what pastors’ wives will not just tolerate but allow and cover for in their own homes, in their marriages, in their churches: hard core evil.
Incredible post, Todd. Thank you for continuing to watch these guys.
Ava Aaronson,
Great timeline!
Sometimes, it’s the sick and broken beggar at the Church door who is the saint, and the famous ‘pastor’ in the pulpit who is in more trouble than we can imagine . . .
God knows what we cannot ‘see’: this is from an ancient wisdom, yes
One correction Ava. Malone was at Trinity Church Mesa. Driscoll’s cult meets in Scottsdale at THE Trinity church. Trinity Mesa is now called One Life Southwest Church, at least that’s what it looks like to me. Website is http://www.vcnsw.org/churches/trinity-church-of-mesa
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate you.
Ava Aaronson,
This is an excellent explanation of his Ghislaine Maxwell. Watching “Ghislaine” in the November 2015 video numerous times puzzled me, but I believe you are very right. And brainwashed, too? I hope their children will have much support and counseling. I am so sorry for the victim, and her child, and hope she is well emotionally and has support. There must be many other victims, too.
All I can say about that headline is MORE CHRISTIAN FAMILY VALUES.
In two words, QUEEN BEE.
By Divine Right.
A straight marriage used as cover.
In the Gay community, this is called a “beard”.
50 years ago, it was called a “fishwife”.
Especially with a pastor, whose marriage & family is THE Example of Godly Christian Family.
It is the old Jesus forgave me and you have too also.
You know you’ve been in toxic religion for too long when your first thought at seeing a headline like that is “Please don’t let it be someone else I know…”
We know the website is acting weird. We are working on it.
dee,
Maybe it’s (the site) converting to reformed thought?
Muff Potter,
LOL
https://www.vcnsw.org/churches
It’s a network of churches in the Southwest. Not sure about affiliations or denoms. But this is where the trail with the minor he violated of note, started. Then he brought the minor to two other states, using his wife and family as the scheme. When a male pastor brings a minor into his home to nanny his children, it’s a red flag.
One would expect that the wife would be hiring the nanny. Male youth pastors bringing a girl minor under their wing, for whatever reason, should evoke questions, at least. The grooming and violating happened in and via his home under the watch of his pastor wife. So she’s worthless at best.
Then there are the churches in three states (Arizona, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) where he met the girl, groomed the girl, violated the girl, and impregnated the girl, during his employment with them.
The wife was his cover. The churches are his cover. They drive the getaway car.
Predators know the drill. Find a wife to cover. Find employment as a youth pastor in a local church for the hunting ground. Off he goes to predator paradise.
Does having a wife and children mean a man is not a predator?
Does being a youth pastor mean a man is not a predator?
Does being employed by a church mean a man is not a predator?
Does being active in a church mean a man is not a predator?
Churches and families never absorb or engage predators and then reform or normalize them. “Join us. We’ll make you a better person, a godly person.” The “just come along” gospel.
The predator comes into the community, bonds with relationships, finds the vulnerable targets, then destroys lives. He doesn’t change. He changes the community, bringing his Frankenstein or Jekyll and Hyde, then violates people that are forever impacted. The community becomes toxic, deadly to the vulnerable. To community leadership, the vulnerable are disposable, and the predator is overlookable. So the beat goes on.
It looks like these churches in the Network are mainly Baptist.
The “One Life Southwest” website says: “Everyone is Welcome, Anything is Possible”.
Of course, we know that’s not true. (See my above comment about how a predator poisons a community and destroys lives, while the community NEVER absorbs and changes the predator – so not possible.)
The website goes on: “Each weekend at One Life you’ll find a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with exciting, contemporary worship music and a practical, relevant message. Children are well-cared for in a loving, quality nursery and fun-filled One Life Kids environments. Helpful volunteers and clear directional signage show you where to go. We exist to change the world One Life at a time!”
A 12-yr-old was recruited, groomed, and violated by this church’s youth pastor, right up to being impregnated by him. Nothing well-cared for about this. Not fun-filled either.
The practical, relevant message from this church is actually keep children away or they might end up a young single mother, courtesy of the youth pastor. But then, this girl, now a young mother, is completely disposable and overlookable to this church.
Whew, thanks for letting us know! I thought my new trifocals could only see in Times New Roman.
Right. This makes sense. It was totally the judge’s fault Malone was found guilty. Malone’s actions had absolutely nothing to do with, merely circumstantial at best. What a living, breathing example of narcissism.
“UHH… THAT’S ALL UNDER THE BLOOD.”
— Mike Warnke and his fanboys, after Warnke was exposed as a total fraud
“WHO WOULD BE ACCUSING A MIGHTY MAN OF GAWD? SATANISTS!”
— same as above
“PERSECUTION!!!!!!!”
(Just like SATAN singling Bob Larson out for Speshul Attention.)
“… if they are evil you can disregard their flowery christianese language. They have revealed who they really are …” (Todd)
“The devil prowls the earth (and the church) looking for someone to devour” (parenthesis mine) … 1 Peter 5:8
I think he thought it was the judge that rejected the plea deal he had worked out. THAT was the Judge’s “fault” in his mind.
Sigh, I was so sad to find out all those stories were just a figment of his imagination.
I really wish these people would take the time to become fiction writers. Then we could enjoy their stories for what they are. There is nothing wrong with fiction, as long as everyone knows it is fiction. Such a waste of imaginary powers.
Church folks, consider these questions. Don’t let your guard down when you go to church; your children are depending on you. The enemy often hides in plain sight – and can even be a wolf dressed in shepherd’s clothing. Be diligent, keep your eyes and ears open, see something – say something.
One of the Father Brown Mysteries put it as “False Fact instead of True Fiction”.
And those who are really into False Fact are the first to rip into those who are into True Fiction for “Living in a Fantasy World”. Never mind that a Fantasy that has a real background (like Twilight or Harlequin Romances) can detach you from reality BECAUSE it has a hook into Reality.
Are you referring to sci-fi or something else? I’m sorry, but I feel like I am missing some background.
The word is not “nanny”.
The word is COMMANDER’S HANDMAID.
Yeah. Handmaid.