WAXAHACHIE, Texas – A Waxahachie youth pastor who impregnated a 14-year-old girl was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing four minors.
On Monday, Marvins Scales, 53, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after entering a guilty plea to two charges of child sexual abuse, one act of child aggravated sexual assault, and one case of child sexual assault.
In August 2023, a 14-year-old girl delivered birth at Baylor Scott & White – Waxahachie, sparking an inquiry into Scales.
When Scales visited the hospital with the small girl and became “overly involved” in the delivery procedure, medical workers alerted the authorities.
Subsequently, Waxahachie police got a warrant for the baby’s DNA and established Scales’ paternity.
Scales was the youth pastor of a local church. However, authorities did not specify the name or location of the church.
Once church members learned about the first victim, several more came forward.
The DA’s office says Scales would regularly have children from the church on overnight trips and would have them sleep over at his house.
Victims told investigators Scales would have sex with them on the trips and overnight stays.
Investigators say Scale had an extensive security system at home that caught several of the sexual assaults. They say he even recorded several of the assaults himself and kept them at home.
The security footage helped authorities find even more child sex abuse victims.
It can be extremely difficult for victims and their families to come forward when an abuser is a figure of authority, particularly in a religious organisation, according to Ellis County District Attorney Ann Montgomery. “We salute the courage of the kids who spoke up to make sure that Scales’ cruelty didn’t affect any other kids, and our thoughts are with the kids who were unable to speak up. Justice has been served to all of Scales’s victims with this punishment. Now that they are, maybe, the entire community can start to heal.”
Scales originally registered as a sex offender in 2006, according to the Texas Public Sex Offender website. On June 5, 2023, he confirmed his registration with the Waxahachie Police Department.
Records on the internet indicate Scales was found guilty in three counts of child sex abuse in 1998; ten years later, he was released from prison.
The local church may or may not have known that Scales was a sex offender when they recruited him.
Scales cannot be granted parole.
