Ernest Willis, profiled here, raped a 15-year-old girl, impregnated her, and then worked with his pastor to have his victim apologize for her own rape and have her child adopted. He and his pastor, Charles Phelps, are the worst sort of Christians. The pair is the answer to the question of why do I do this. My answer is Willis and Phelps.
Willis had appealed his conviction. It did not go well him.
The state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the rape and sexual assault convictions against Ernest Willis who is serving a 15-to-30 year prison sentence for forcibly raping his teenage babysitter, whom he knew through Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, twice in 1997.
The girl, who became pregnant, was later made to stand before their congregation apologize by then-pastor Chuck Phelps. A Merrimack County jury convicted Ellis of three counts of rape and one count of felonious sexual assault in 2011.
Source: N.H. Supreme Court upholds Ernest Willis’s rape convictions by Annmarie Timmins
Willis will continue to serve his 15 to 30 year sentence. I hope his victim, Tina Anderson, can feel safe.
One part of the case has always bothered me. The police were investigating and then they stopped.
The Concord police investigation into Willis’s conduct was closed when the department lost touch with Anderson. The case was reopened in 2010, leading to a trial the following year where Willis was convicted of multiple rape counts. After that trial, Willis’s attorneys appealed his convictions on several grounds, including the admission of testimony from Phelps.
Source: Supreme Court upholds rape conviction, rejects religious privilege argument by Tricia L. Nadolny (2013)
They stopped investigating because Pastor Charles Phelps moved Tina Anderson out of state. Pastor Phelps should be in prison too.
Other posts and links on this case:
- A sickness that eats the mind (2010)
- The N.H. Supreme Court decision (2013)
- Convicted Rapist won't get new trial by Tony Schinella (2013)