Pa. Pastor Imprisoned for Impregnating Teen Allegedly Tried to Hire Inmates to Kill Clergyman, Judge
A disgraced former youth pastor, already serving three to six years in a Pennsylvania prison for sexually assaulting and impregnating a teenage girl he had taken into his home, is facing shocking new allegations.
Last week, Pennsylvania State Police charged Jacob Mathew Malone, 37, with multiple counts of solicitation to commit murder, alleging he offered fellow inmates thousands in cash to kill the judge who oversaw his prosecution as well as the pastor who would replace him at Calvary Fellowship Church — located in Downington.
Malone pleaded guilty in 2017 to institutional sex assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children. He was serving as the victim’s guardian at the time of the assaults, which began in the fall of 2014 and lasted about a year.
Malone, who was married when the assaults occurred, is the father of the victim’s daughter, who was born in 2016.
The new case against Malone began when the Chester County District Attorney’s Office received a phone tip last summer from an inmate at Laurel Highlands State Correctional Institution in Somerset, Pennsylvania, according to a press release.
“[Malone] allegedly offered a fellow inmate $5,000 to kill the head pastor at the church because of his involvement with Malone’s case,” reads the press release from the Chester County District Attorney’s Office. Pastor Harold Lee Wiggins, who replaced Malone, turned him in after learning of the abuse in 2016, and even testified against him at trial.
“The defendant also told the inmate that he would be willing to offer additional money for the murder of Judge [Jacqueline] Cody, who presided over the sexual assault case,” the statement continues.
Cody had rejected the terms of a plea deal that would have seen Malone serve just two years. Instead, she sentenced him to three to six years behind bars.
In addition, Cody ordered Malone to register as a sex offender through 2032.
According to the statement, Malone’s cellmate told investigators he said he “wanted to get revenge on the people involved in his case,” and allegedly asked him if he knew of anyone who could carry out the double-murder. But the cellmate “told the defendant to ‘put it behind him,'” the statement says.
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According to the statement, a second inmate came forward subsequently.
“He received letters from [Malone] about an alleged murder for hire plot,” reads the statement. “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. [Investigators] reviewed the letters sent by the inmate and initiated the criminal complaint.”
The letters the inmate shared with police, allegedly written by Malone, contained detailed information about the logistics of the Sunday services at Calvary Fellowship Church.
RELATED: Pa. Pastor Sentenced for Impregnating Teen Who Attended His Church: ‘She Admired Me and Trusted Me’
On Thursday, Malone was charged with attempted murder, criminal solicitation, attempted aggravated assault and making terroristic threats.
He has yet to enter pleas to the charges, and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan called the allegations against Malone “extremely serious” in the statement, and confirms Cody and Wiggins are safe.
