VIRGINIA BEACH — A former employee of the Virginia Beach United Methodist Church was charged with illegally filming children after his cellphone was found recording activity in a church bathroom.
Dillon Jacobs, 20, was charged with four counts of unlawfully filming children on Aug. 17, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department.
The charges are class-six felonies, meaning that Jacobs could face between four and 20 years in prison, according to Virginia legal code.
His arrest came more than four months after a boy told the church’s assistant administrator, Randy Gillian, that he’d found a black and white Samsung Galaxy cellphone under the men’s urinal, according to documents filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.
The boy reported it on April 6, adding that the phone was on, recording and facing upward toward the urinal when he found it. A VBPD detective reported that when he found the phone, it was positioned so that only the camera was showing, and it was angled upward toward the urinal.
The minor told a Virginia Beach detective that he found the phone at a time when meetings were happening at the church and people were in the building, court documents state.
Senior Pastor Mark Miller said that while the church restroom is one that is used by all ages, the phone was found at a time when there were many children in the building.
Two days later after it was reported, Dillon came to reclaim his phone from the VBPD. He told police he’d left it and a jacket in the bathroom on accident while he was working, according to court documents.
Miller confirmed that Jacobs was formerly a part-time desk worker at the church. He added that Jacobs was fired immediately after the incident was reported.
“We have very strict policies about conduct and behavior,” Miller said.
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