A promoter of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory was revealed in court documents to have had a sexual relationship with a minor.
The QAnon conspiracy theory is based on the belief that Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a so called “Deep State”– a cabal of Satan worshipping pedophiles who control the world.
Phillip Godlewski is a popular figure in the QAnon movement with over 600,000 followers on Telegram and 156,000 subscribers on Rumble. He pleaded guilty to corrupting a minor over a decade ago and was sentenced to three months under house arrest, according to a Daily Beast report.
This all came to light when Godlewski filed a defamation lawsuit against the Scranton Times-Tribune after the newspaper included the conviction in a profile they did on him last year.
Godlewski told his followers that the story was false and that the victim is a “conniving” schemer whose mother cooked up the entire thing to get his money.
(screengrab/Rumble via The Independent)
This prompted the victim to come forward to tell her side of the story to lawyers for the newspaper in a sworn statement.
The victim said she met Godlewski in 2008 while he was a baseball coach at her high school. Godlewski was 25 at the time. She was 15. Shortly after meeting Godlewski, her boyfriend died by suicide and he stepped in to comfort her. He showered her with gifts, including a pair $2,800 diamond earrings. He also sent multiple text messages to her, including some in which he acknowledged she was a minor.
“Realized that you’re only 15, but quickly stopped caring,” he wrote in one text message.
“Why are we so compatible?” he wrote in another. “I’m 10 years older than you.”
When Godlewski was indicted on charges relating to their inappropriate sexual relationship in 2010, he contacted her and threatened to kill himself if she didn’t recant her story. The victim stopped cooperating with investigators which allowed Godlewski to plead guilty to a lesser charge of corrupting a minor.
But he never stopped contacting her. In March 2021, he sent her a text message alluding to their sexual relationship while offering condolences after her grandfather passed.
“I had no idea your Popa died,” he wrote. “I’m so sorry. I think we had sex in their bed though.”
He also sent her a photo of his penis and told her it “got bigger.”
Over a year later in May 2022, during the defamation case, he sent her a text hinting at a possible “financial windfall” that could only be discussed in person.
Attorneys for the newspaper say Godlewski never turned over these text messages with the victim as part of their discovery request. They also said he perjured himself in sworn statements when he claimed that he never had a sexual relationship with the woman, ever.
“Not only did Phillip Godlewski commit a sex crime against a 15-year-old in 2009-2010, he has now solicited this same person to commit perjury in a court proceeding so he can enrich himself,” attorneys for the newspaper wrote in court documents.
Godlewski’s lawyer told the Daily Beast that any sexual relationship between his client and the woman “occurred when the couple were of age.”
[Featured Image: Reuters]
