The Preacher and the Prostitute:
Hanover Commonwealth’s Attorney Trip Chalkley said Tonya Farnsworth, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion Tuesday. Farnsworth is scheduled to be sentenced on January 7th at 1:30 PM. Pastor Chris Phillips has elected to go to trial on November 25th 2013 in Hanover County Circuit Court and is represented by Attorney Craig Cooley.
Farnsworth was reported to be upbeat while pleading guilty. It is rumored that Farnsworth has agreed to cooperate and help build a case against her boyfriend, believed to be Matthew Quevillion, who aided in laundering the hundreds of thousands of dollars of Farnsworth’s victims through various means.
In doing so Farnsworth will likely once again side step any serious jail time and yet again appear to get one over on the Justice System. The same Justice System that seems to be simply so unjust to those that have looked towards it for comfort and protection.
Many news sources are reporting that in this case alone, Farnsworth conned nearly $180,000.00 in less than 90 days from Phillips. Morse Investigation has been provided documentation by other victims that would take her total from similar scams to nearly $680,000, only 10 months since Farnsworth was released from jail for an unrelated conviction.
Many other of Farnsworth’s Victims have come forward courageously, and have reported resistance from the authorities to take any action. This has been an all to common reaction by law enforcement when considering what to do about Farnsworth’s illegal behaviors.
When Farnsworth originally faced these charges, she tearfully expressed to the Judge that she had two small children that she was trying to care for and had huge medical bills, and that was why she had conned Mr. Phillips.
Morse Investigation Services would like to set the record straight. Farnsworth did give birth to two minor children that she has had no contact with in many years. Farnsworth has not provided for the care of either child. In fact Farnsworth was ordered to pay child support for her eldest and owes over $70,000.00 in arrearage. As far as major medical debt, we are not able to verify if this is true because of medical privacy laws. However, based on every other known fictitious tale, that too is just another aspect her crocodile tears, all in an attempt to garner sympathy from the Courts.
The bottom line here is that Farnsworth has left a trail of victims that may total into the hundreds. We simply hope that the Courts hand down a sentence that will keep Farnsworth away from the general public for a long time to come!
In no way are we suggesting that those victims who foolishly paid money to Farnsworth are not guilty of their own criminal acts.
As for Phillips, it is hard to separate him from his duties at his Church when thinking of his participation in these crimes.
Phillips is alleged to have stolen from the coffers of his church in an effort to buy Farnsworth’s silence. A reprehensible act for certain. Phillips deserves whatever punishment comes his way.
It is important to realize that there is a tendency to want to hand out extra punishment because Phillips has disgracefully added to the already black eye of the Church, as seemingly so many church leaders all over this country have done.
It is our understanding, derived from speaking to those in the closely knitted church community in Hanover County, that Phillips has been all but driven out of the County by a pitch forked crazed mob.