A 45-year-old Bartlett man was convicted Friday of raping the 12-year-old daughter of a woman he was dating at the time.
Patrick Phillips was convicted of rape of a child and aggravated sexual battery following a week-long trial before Criminal Court Judge W. Mark Ward, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.
The rape happened in November of 2012. A few days later the child left a note for her mother describing how Phillips had offered to give her a back massage while the mother was away at work.
The girl said in the note and later in forensic interviews that Phillips then began sexually abusing her and raped her in a bedroom at their home.
The victim is now 17.
His $25,000 bond was revoked and he is awaiting sentencing on Oct. 19. Phillips faces a minimum of 25 years in prison without the possibility for parole.
The case was handled by Asst. Dist. Attys. Devon Lepeard and Alyssa Hennig of the DA’s Special Victims Unit, which prosecutes cases of child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse of child victims; rape and aggravated rape of adult victims, and abuse of elderly and vulnerable adults.
SVU reviews child-victim cases with Shelby County’s multi-agency Child Protection Investigative Team.
