School employee accused of repeated, forced sex with girl under 16

TREDYFFRIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WTXF) - An instructional aide at a local high school's TV production studio is in trouble. He's accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage student from the school.

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, last Tuesday, April 18, Conestoga High School officials told Tredyffrin police a female student under 16 was involved with school employee Arthur Phillips.

The next day, school official gave authorities electronic documents dated back to Jan. 17 that showed the two communicated back and forth by text and email.

Thursday, police interviewed the girl and she reportedly said the two became friends, he'd drive her places, they'd send messages, but also that "They had discussions about sexual issues including Phillips discussing his penis. On at least one occasion, the defendant sent the child a photograph of his penis within a text message."

Then, from January until early this month, he'd pick her up near her home -- drove her to places in the neighborhood, Tredyffrin Township, and the King of Prussia Mall -- and had sexual intercourse with her on more than ten occasions.

Also, "The child would tell the defendant no, that she did not want to do it. The defendant would make the child have sexual intercourse."

Plus, "The child described incidents in the Conestoga High School where the defendant would grope, touch and kiss the child."

And, the communications "done via text messaging with Arthur Phillips are listed on her phone under alias names such as 'Jeremy Williams,' amongst others."

Thursday afternoon, Chester County's Computer Forensic Unit examined her two phones and found "several hundred communications with 'Jeremy Williams' of a sexual nature. … Several of the photographs depict the victim with the suspect."

Finally, "When the relationship came to light, the defendant wrote a note and crashed his car. The note was found in his car and in the note states, 'I was just a guy trying to help a kid and boundaries just got gray.'"

Phillips was interviewed Thursday night and reportedly admitted texting the victim and having her in his car.

He's charged with institutional sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated assault on a victim under 16, indecent assault without consent, indecent assault with a child under 16, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and criminal use of a communication facility.