4 priests charged with child pornography
October 28, 2014
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In recent weeks, four US priests have been arrested or indicted on separate child pornography charges.
Father Mark Haynes, a 59-year-old priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was charged with six counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography. According to the local district attorney, he posted the images online using his Instagram account.
Father Joseph Maurizio, a priest of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown (PA), was indicted on sex tourism charges after he allegedly traveled to Honduras each year for a decade and gave money or candy to boys at an orphanage in exchange for sexual activity. The 69-year-old priest was also charged with child pornography on a computer hard drive.
Father Clint Landry, a 57-year-old priest of the Diocese of Fairbanks, was indicted after he allegedly “coerced a minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct,” according to the Fairbanks News-Miner.
And a Detroit television station reported that Father Richard Kurtz, a Detroit Jesuit, is likely to plead guilty to secretly videotaping a boys’ high school locker room.
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Further information:
- West Chester priest arrested on child pornography charges (CatholicPhilly.com)
- Priest pleads not guilty to sexual tourism charges (AP)
- Joseph Maurizio Jr. indicted Tuesday in federal court (WJAC-TV)
- Fairbanks priest faces child pornography charges (Fairbanks News-Miner)
- Priest Accused Of Secretly Recording Locker Room Likely To Plead Guilty In Child Porn Case (WWJ-TV)
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Posted by: garedawg -
Oct. 29, 2014 10:52 AM ET USA
They are in the same age group as the great majority of the women who try to become "ordained".
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Posted by: shrink -
Oct. 29, 2014 7:44 AM ET USA
The priests all would have been trained in the 1960s and 1970s (assuming they were not late vocations.) Kurtz's mug shot would appear to put him in his 60s. It was in the roaring 60s and 70s that the pederasty scandal peaked. Seminary professors were very liberated sexually and passed it on to their students. Sexual habits obtained in one's youth die very hard. Probably the majority of priests with sexual problems were/are not targeting the young. They stay with us.
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Posted by: unum -
Oct. 28, 2014 6:56 PM ET USA
A sad commentary on the state of the Catholic clergy and the (hopefully) past problems of our bishops and seminary directors.
