‘Awful choices.’ Former Kentucky teacher’s aide sentenced in case of sex with teen boys
A former Kentucky teacher’s aide who admitted to having sex with teenage boys has been sentenced to 15 years and eight months in federal prison.
A judge also ordered Ellen Phillips to pay a $5,000 fine, and after prison she will be under court supervision the rest of her life, according to a court document.
Phillips, 39, of Danville, was an aide at an elementary school in Boyle County before being charged.
Phillips, formerly known as Ellen Shell, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct.
She admitted using social media platforms Facebook and Snapchat, as well as text messages, to contact boys in the area of Boyle and Garrard counties about having sexual contact.
Phillips had sexual relationships with numerous teenage boys, typically ranging in age from 14 to 16, according to her plea agreement.
Her plea agreement included details on one incident in December 2022 in which Phillips contacted a 15-year-old boy through Facebook, offering him alcohol and oral sex to sneak out and meet her.
Phillips told the boy excuses he could use to get out of the house, but he told her he couldn’t that night, according to the plea document.
Lexington attorney Dan Carman, who represented Phillips, said in a sentencing memorandum that she had suffered abuse and trauma as a young person, but ultimately obtained a college education and married and had two children.
Carman said it was difficult to understand why a woman in her late 30s with no criminal record, a family and stable employment made “awful choices” to engage in sexual activity with teenage boys.
“A fair assessment is that she began to have significant mental health issues and dealt with them in some of the worst ways possible — by turning to drugs and alcohol, and acting out and seeking attention sexually with teenage boys with whom she had no right to have such relationships,” Carman wrote.
The advisory sentencing range for Phillips was 151 months to 188 months.
Carman asked Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves to sentence Phillips to no more than 132 months in prison, noting that while she had done harm to the boys and their families, she had also lost her reputation, her assets, her career and most of her own relationships, including with her children.
Reeves declined the request, sentencing Phillips at the top of the advisory range at the April 26 hearing.
Phillips also faces state charges of sodomy and rape. Those charges could be dropped as a result of Phillips’ sentence in federal court.
