A former North Texas youth pastor has been sentenced to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole for sexually assaulting multiple minors.
Marvin Scales, 53, of Waxahachie, pled guilty to two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a young child, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and one count of sexual assault of a child, according to the Ellis County District Attorney’s office.
In addition to the assaults, Scales impregnated one of his victims at 14 years old.
In August of 2023, Waxahachie was alerted by medical staff at Baylor Scott & White Waxahachie after Scales was “overly involved” in the delivery of a 14-year-old’s baby. Police obtained a warrant for the baby’s DNA and confirmed that Scales was the biological father of the child.
This discovery opened up an investigation on Scales.
Victims at the former youth pastor’s local church began stepping forward. Scales reportedly took the congregation’s children on overnight trips and had the children sleep over at his house. Children told police that Scales would regularly have sex with them on the trips and overnight stays at his home.
Scales reportedly had an “extensive security system” installed at his home. He often recorded himself sexually assaulting victims and kept the recordings at his home.
“This is an unusually heinous case of child sexual abuse,” said District Attorney Ann Montgomery after the sentencing.
“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. 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. With this sentence, justice is done for all of Scales’s victims. We hope now they, and this entire community, can begin to heal.”