Hillsborough Youth Minister Gets 5 Years For Being Around Kids

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A Hillsborough man, who was previously convicted twice for sex assault of girls, was sentenced to five years in New Jersey State Prison on Friday — this time for violating an order prohibiting him from serving in a youth service organization, authorities said.

Shawn Butler, 53, of Hillsborough was previously found guilty on May 21 of third-degree prohibited participation in a youth serving organization. He will serve the five years consecutive to the sentence he is currently serving in Middlesex County. (See Related: Hillsborough Man, Youth Minister Guilty Of Molesting Girl, 15)

Due to a previous sexual assault-related conviction, Butler was prohibited from participating in youth serving organizations. He violated this law by participating in a youth ministry at a religious center in Franklin Township, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said.

Butler participated in a youth ministry at a religious center in Franklin as a youth counselor, youth mentor and youth chaperone. A past sexual assault-related conviction barred him from working in such an organization.

The children he was dealing with were between the ages of 12 and 17.

Butler, in his duties at the organization, supervised and mentored the children at many youth ministry events like overnight camps, concerts, outings and groups, according to the release.

Butler had already been serving a sentence for molesting a girl, who was 15 years old at the time in South Brunswick Township and at his home in Hillsborough in July 2014.

Butler was found guilty on Nov. 16 of endangering the welfare of a child in the third-degree and criminal sexual contact in the fourth-degree. When the molestation occurred, he had been working as a youth minister at the Eternal Life Christian Center in the Somerset section of Franklin Township and also served on the church's executive board.

He had also previously served seven years in prison for a 1990 sexual assault conviction.

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