January 19, 2016
A Chester County pastor accused of raping and impregnating a teenage girl has been arrested, CBSPhilly reports.
Jacob Malone, 33, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers upon his arrival back in the United States at Newark Liberty International Airport.
West Whiteland, Pa. Detective Scott Pezick told People Thursday afternoon that Malone, of Exton, had been in Ecuador for approximately two weeks.
He is expected to face charges of rape, institutional sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minor and furnishing liquor to a child, according to the detective.
Malone reportedly met the victim when she was 12 while he was a pastor at a church she attended in Mesa, Arizona. In 2014, he reached out to the then-17-year-old girl and invited her to stay with him and his family at his new home in Minnesota, where he allegedly tried 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.
According to police, the alleged abuse began in the fall of that year, and they say the girl told officials Malone began sexually assaulting her while she lived at his residence on the unit block of Atherton Drive in Exton.
During the alleged abuse, the victim told police she was attending the church, Calvary Fellowship in Downingtown, where he was a pastor.
A church official told PhillyVoice the community was "devastated" by the accusations, explaining that Malone tendered his resignation in November 2015 after church elders confronted him about the allegations.
Malone is being held in Essex County and is awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania to face charges.
