Former Ellis County youth pastor gets 50 years for sexually assaulting children

A former Waxahachie youth pastor received a 50-year sentence this week for the sexual assault of children after a 14-year-old girl gave birth to his child, prompting an investigation into his conduct and interactions with other minors, according to Ellis County authorities.

Marvin Scales, 53, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a young child, and one count each of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced and is not eligible for parole, according to a news release from the Ellis County district attorney’s office.

An attorney for Scales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This is an unusually heinous case of child sexual abuse,” District Attorney Ann Montgomery said in a news release. “When a person of authority — especially in a religious institution — is the abuser, it can be incredibly difficult for victims and their families to speak out.”

Authorities said Scales, who was already a registered sex offender, was a youth pastor at a local church. They did not disclose the name of the church.

In August 2023, Waxahachie police were alerted that the 14-year-old girl was in labor at a local hospital. Scales was also at the hospital and hospital staff reported he was “overly involved” in the delivery process, authorities said in the release.

After church members learned about the first victim, others began coming forward, officials said. Court documents show several teens reported sexual abuse by Scales.

Court documents detail crimes

The 14-year-old girl’s abuse is believed to have started around November 2022, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit. In February 2023, the girl’s father and aunt called Waxahachie police with concerns about the teen, who the adults said had been living with her mother and Scales. According to the affidavit, Scales is not related to anyone in the family and was not in a relationship with a woman when he was living with the two other than being platonic friends.

The father and aunt alerted authorities after believing the girl commented about ending her life over possible sexual abuse from Scales, the document says. They asked officers for a welfare check.

The officers performed the check but the girl did not talk to them about the abuse. About June 2023, a report was made to Child Protective Services after the girl went to a doctor pregnant. Someone at the doctor’s office thought it was “strange how over protective” Scales was during the exam, the affidavit states.

When asked who the father was, the girl, Scales and one other person at the office did not answer. The girl, who was interviewed by officials, refused to say who the father was, the affidavit states.

In August 2023, officers were called to the hospital where the girl was in labor, with Scales being the suspected father. He wouldn’t leave her side and had to be removed from the hospital by police, according to the affidavit.

Authorities obtained a warrant for the baby’s DNA, which they said confirmed Scales was the biological father.

Others come forward

Scales was “unofficial” youth director at the unnamed church, court documents show. Two additional girls and a boy also reported being abused by him in the last five years, the documents state. One of the girls is the pastor’s daughter, according to the documents.

Officials said Scales regularly took children in the congregation on overnight trips and would have them sleep over at his house. Victims reported he would have sex with them on the trips and overnight stays, officials said.

Authorities interviewed the pastor’s daughter, a 13-year-old girl. She said she had known Scales since she was between 4 and 6 years old and called him her uncle, documents show. His abuse of her was believed to have started around November 2022. The girl said he abused her every night she stayed at his home.

Officials said Scales had an “extensive security system” installed at his home. Several assaults were recorded by security cameras, and Scales would record himself in the assaults while engaging in sex acts and keep them at his home, according to officials. The recordings led authorities to additional victims.

One affidavit states police obtained a search warrant for one of Scales’ phones, on which videos showed Scales having intercourse with an “obvious juvenile” girl. Metadata or time stamps showed the videos were made in 2020. An investigator identified the girl, who would have been 14 when the videos were made. One video was filmed at the girl’s home in Ennis.

Authorities interviewed the girl, who told them the abuse by Scales began when she was about 11 or 12 years old and escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the affidavit.

The search of Scales’ phone also revealed December 2020 videos of a 15-year-old boy, an affidavit states. The boy went to a Waxahachie police station and told a detective that Scales had sexually assaulted him. Around the time the boy was 14, he would spend the night at Scales’ home. The affidavit said the sleepovers escalated to abuse.

According to the affidavit, “similar grooming techniques and other details” of the boy’s case were consistent with other victims’ stories.

Previous convictions

Dallas County court records show Scales was sentenced to probation in 1992 for indecency with a child. The 1992 offense happened before Texas’ new sex-offender registration law took effect, but Scales was required to register in 1995 upon receiving a new sentence, police told The Dallas Morning News in 1996.

In 1996, The News reported Scales had been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. The girl ran away from a day care center, according to police.

“In this case, as a result of seducing her, she became infatuated with him and ran away,” Dallas police Sgt. Byron Fassett told The News at the time.

According to the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry, Scales was convicted in 1998 on multiple counts, including indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Montgomery, the Ellis County DA, said after Scales’ sentencing Monday that she hopes victims, along with the community, can begin healing.

”We commend the bravery of the children who came forward to ensure that no other child suffered due to Scales’s abuse, and our hearts are with those children who could not speak out,” Montgomery said in her statement. “With this sentence, justice is done for all of Scales’s victims.”

Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.