Father William Vatterott, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest from St. Louis, Mo., was charged with possession of child pornography involving Internet images of a child under 18 years old on Wednesday, according to Reuters. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The indictment against Vatterott says he "possessed at least two images of an unidentified nude boy on his computer between June 2010 and June 2011," KMOX writes.
This is not the first time Vatterott has landed in trouble.
On June 29, 2011, he was placed on administrative leave after a complaint was filed against him by two teenagers who reported receiving inappropriate electronic exchanges from Vatterott, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
At the time, the Archdiocese of St. Louis released a statement regarding the complaints against Vatterott, who served as a pastor at St. Cecilia Parish since 2008.
"None of the reported complaints involved physical contact or solicitation of any sort," the statement read.
The Archdiocese released a statement on Wednesday following news that the priest had been indicted on the child pornography charges, noting that they have "fully cooperated with the investigation" since the beginning.
This latest incident to rock the church has survivors of sexual abuse highlighting the problems that continue to occur since the sex scandal erupted back in 2001.
"We hope that someday Catholic officials will stop using euphemisms like 'inappropriate conduct' and 'boundary violations' and start being more honest," David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said in a statement obtained by the Riverfront Times. "It's hard to believe they are trying to reforming when they deliberately use vague minimizing words for these heinous crimes."
Tags: Catholic, Charges, Child, Indicted, On, Pornography, Priest
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