Chesco Pastor Who Impregnated Teen Wanted Judge Murdered: Cops

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — A former Chester County pastor convicted of sex crimes tried to pay someone to kill the judge that sentenced him, as well as another priest, police said.

Jacob Matthew Malone, 37, faces numerous charges after attempting to hire one of his fellow inmates to carry out the crimes, authorities said.

Malone, an Exton native, had previously pleaded guilty in 2017 and was sentenced to three to six years in prison for institutional sexual assault and related charges, court documents show.

Malone launched his scheme while he was incarcerated at SCI Laurel Highlands in Somerset County, according to a criminal complaint.

Later, when he was transferred to SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County, he offered an inmate $5,000 to kill Judge Jacqueline Cody, as well as local pastor Harold Lee Wiggins, the complaint shows.

The inmate refused and told Malone to back off of the scheme; the inmate later told investigators what had happened, authorities said.

Malone, who worked at the nondenominational Calvary Fellowship in Downingtown, fled to Ecuador when charges were initially filed against him in early 2016, authorities said. He was arrested in Jan. 2017 after agreeing to return to the United States via a flight to Miami.

Malone met his victim when she was 12 at his old church in Mesa, Arizona, authorities said. Later, when Malone was a pastor in Minnesota, he invited the then-17-year-old girl to live with him, his wife, and three children.

That's when he attempted "inappropriate contact" for the first time, police said.

The sexual assaults began regularly when the pair moved to Chester County in the fall of 2014 and Malone registered the girl in a local high school. Malone regularly gave her alcohol at their home on Atherton Drive in Exton, and at least one of molestations occurred when the victim was drunk, police said.

The victim gave birth in 2016. Malone said the sexual encounters were consensual, while the victim described them as rape.

Malone has now been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and related counts. He remains incarcerated at Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

A preliminary hearing is forthcoming.