Elliot Hughes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

HALES CORNERS - A former Hales Corners pastor was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault of a minor, but a mistrial was declared for four counts of child molestation.

Thomas Chantry, 47, was a pastor at Christ Reformed Baptist Church in Hales Corners in 2016 when charges were filed against him in Yavapai County, Arizona, where he worked as a clergyman for 16 years.

After about four weeks of trial, a jury convicted Chantry of the two aggravated assault charges, but found him not guilty of one count of child molestation and could not reach a verdict on four other counts of child molestation.

Chantry will be sentenced Sept. 28. That is when court officials will determine what will happen next with the charges involved in the mistrial.

According to a criminal complaint, the charges stem from several incidents between 1995 and 2001, when Chantry worked for the Miller Valley Baptist Church in Prescott, Ariz. Victims told police that when they were children, Chantry would spank them, grope their genitals and make them sit on his lap, according to police reports. He told at least one victim not to tell anyone because “God would be mad at them.”

According to a 2016 police report, Chantry admitted during a private meeting that he spanked some kids and then apologized to a family before leaving town. A group of church association members then investigated the claims.

Police received their first report of the alleged incidents in 2015.

According to a bio of Chantry on the Christ Reformed Baptist Church’s website, which has since been taken down, Chantry spent time at a Christian school in the Chicago area before arriving at Hales Corners to preach in 2005.