Contact: Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Moncrieff
Adult Sexual Assault Prosecution
Telephone: 916-874-8019
District Attorney Jan Scully announced today that the Honorable Judge
Maryanne Gilliard sentenced defendant, Phillip Victor Mathews, to the
maximum term of nine years in prison for the molest of the defendant’s
developmentally disabled adopted stepdaughter.
The defendant was found guilty by jury of seven counts of lewd acts with a
victim between the age of fourteen and fifteen years and three counts of
oral copulation with a victim under the age of sixteen years. The jury also
made additional findings in aggravation that the victim was particularly
vulnerable and that the defendant took advantage of a position of trust or
confidence to commit the offense.
Between April 1, 2002 and September 30, 2003, the defendant repeatedly
molested his developmentally disabled step daughter at night in the family
home. The defendant was forty nine and fifty years old and the victim was
fourteen and fifteen years old during the time of the molestation. Since
2001, the defendant was a co-founder and minister in the Pacific Union
Alliance of Prison Evangelists and actively ministered to the prison
population. A detailed investigation by Detective Cockerton of the
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department developed enough evidence to
successfully prosecute this case despite the victim’s mental disability and
the defendant and his wife, the victim’s adoptive mother and co-founder of
the Pacific Union Alliance of Prison Evangelists, pressuring the victim not
to pursue prosecution of this case.
The defendant testified at the jury trial that he did none of the acts
alleged by the prosecution. He further testified that if he ever touched the
victim in her private parts, it was purely accidental and he had no sexual
intent. The defendant maintained his innocence when interviewed by the
Sacramento County Probation Department after the jury’s verdict and stated
that the victim had “manipulated the system” to get him out of the picture.
On September 30, 2005, at his judgment and sentence, the defendant admitted
to molesting his adopted stepdaughter and called his actions “mistakes” and
“transgressions”.
Prosecuting attorney, Jennifer Moncrieff, stated “This verdict and sentence
is proof that the jury system works even when a defendant is willing to lie
under oath to the jury, use his status as a minister to gain credibility,
and uses his power over the victim to dissuade her from testifying. Justice
has been served by those jurors and the appropriate sentence imposed by the
Honorable Maryanne Gilliard.”
