Kentucky teacher’s aide admits to having sex with multiple teenagers

A former Kentucky teacher aide admitted that she had sex with “numerous” teenage boys while working at an elementary school, officials said.

Ellen Phillips, 38, pleaded guilty in federal court in Lexington on Friday to attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual conduct, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Kentucky announced.

Her victims were boys between the ages of 14 and 16 from Boyle and Garrard Counties— and she would sometimes have sex with multiple boys at the same time, according to the plea agreement.

She is facing a maximum sentence of life in prison.

As part of her plea deal, Phillips, who formerly went by Ellen Shell, admitted specifically to trying to convince a 15-year-old boy to sneak out of his house to meet up for sex on Dec. 22, 2022.

She messaged the victim on Facebook and repeatedly tried to get him out of his house, prosecutors said. When the boy told her that he could not leave, she offered him alcohol and oral sex if he could sneak out.

Phillips, of Danville, even offered him excuses that he could tell his mother as to why he had to leave the house, prosecutors said. He ultimately did not meet up with the teacher aide that night.

She would communicate with her other victims through Snapchat, Facebook and text messages to meet up with them for sex.

One of the victims’ mothers, who wished to remain anonymous, told FOX 56 that she went to high school with Phillips and that their children grew up together.

“These boys are not aware of the laws that protect them and would not come forward because they thought they would be in trouble,” the distressed mom said.

Her son told her that “she brought them alcohol 3 to 4 times. I can’t wrap my mind around the extent of what she’s done,” she added.

She was finally arrested in April 2023 when two minors came forward and said she had raped them on three separate occasions between July 6 and Aug. 15, 2022, when they were both 16.

Phillips was initially charged in state court, where she still faces multiple charges of third-degree sodomy and third-degree rape in Boyle, Garrard and Rockcastle counties, according to The Lexington Herald Leader.

Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves scheduled her federal sentencing for April 26. She faces a minimum of 10 years behind and a maximum of life in prison.  

State prosecutors will consider dropping charges as a result of Phillips federal guilty plea.