A former youth pastor was arrested Tuesday charged with multiple counts after having sex with a minor, Polk County deputies said.
Phillip Hendrick II, 30, of Lakeland, a former youth pastor at the Mt. Tabor Baptist Church, who admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old girl, was taken into custody on Monday. He has been charged with three counts of lewd battery, one count of transmitting material harmful to a minor and one count of the use of a two-way communications device to commit a felony.
Investigators were alerted to the crimes when the pastor of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church indicated that a church member told him that Kendrick had had sex with the teen girl sometime between November 2014 and January 2015.
The girl, when interviewed by deputies said, she met Kendrick four years prior and viewed him as a trusted source of support. She also said that overtime the relationship between the two turned from a ministerial relationship to a more personal friendship.
Kendrick admitted to knowing that the girl was 15 years and to engaging in sex acts with her, as well as exchanging nude pictures. Deputies say, he sent pictures of his penis to the girl and she sent naked images of herself to him.
Kendrick was booked into the Polk County jail on Tuesday, and is currently held on no bond.
