(WHDH) — A former youth pastor who is serving jail time for sexually assaulting a teenage girl is facing new charges after prosecutors say he tried to hire a fellow inmate to kill the leader of his church and the judge who convicted him.
Jacob Malone, 37, of Pennsylvania, has been charged with multiple counts of solicitation to commit murder for allegedly attempting to hire someone to kill Pastor Harold Lee Wiggins, his former boss at Calvary Fellowship, and Common Pleas Judge Jacqueline Cody, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
Malone, who is currently serving a sentence of up to six years for sexually assaulting a teenage girl, told an inmate at SCI Laurel Highlands that he “wanted to get revenge on the people involved in his case,” prosecutors said.
The inmate allegedly told Malone to “put it behind him” before notifying the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors say Malone attempted to arrange for the murder of Wiggins and Cody, offering to compensate the inmate in a murder-for-hire plot that he detailed in a series of letters.
“The District Attorney’s Office is deeply concerned about these extremely serious allegations,” Deb Ryan said in a press release. “Most importantly, we can confirm that the victims involved in this case are safe.”
Malone was arrested last week and is awaiting a preliminary hearing.
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