Posted on 02/10/2017 10:31:04 AM PST by Perseverando
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Former Catholic Priest Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Production and Distribution of Child Pornography
A former U.S. Navy Lt. Commander and ordained Catholic priest was sentenced to 30 years in prison today for charges involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III of the District of Delaware.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 51, of Millsboro, Delaware, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware, who also ordered Lee to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. On Nov. 16, 2015, Lee pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. He became a registered sex offender following his 2007 conviction in a general court martial of sexually assaulting another Naval officer while serving as a Chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy. Lee has been in custody since his arrest on Nov. 3, 2014.
According to admissions made in connection with the plea agreement, following a series of CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) special agents connected Lee with accounts that were being used to upload images of child pornography to several social networking sites. In executing a search warrant at Lee’s Millsboro residence, agents found tens of thousands of child-pornography images on several of Lee’s electronic devices, including his phone. Using online messenger applications and text messages from his cellular phone, Lee also induced several juveniles to send him pornographic images of themselves. Lee uploaded at least one of these images to a publicly-accessible social media site. He also traded other images of child pornography online with other adults.
HSI Resident in Charge Wilmington, Delaware investigated the case with assistance from several other HSI regional offices in locating and interviewing the juvenile victims. The Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Edmond Falgowski of the District of Delaware prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc .
Criminal Division
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
USAO - Delaware
Topic:
Project Safe Childhood
Updated February 8, 2017
Apparently!
Physically castrate him. Never mind the chemicals. Then put him in the general population at rough prison to be passed around as the prison beyotch
I thought they fixed this ...
The “www.justice.gov/psc” link doesn’t seem to be working. If interested in the Project Safe Childhood program, try this: https://www.justice.gov/psc
Actually he is not a “former” priest. He is still a priest. However, his faculties have been removed. He maynot say mass or hear confession, except in emergency situations where nothing else is available and waiting is not an option.
Wow. This gross guy not only lost his job as a Priest, but lost his pension as a retired LCDR and will NEVER get it back regardless if he is paroled or not.
I looked up his case on Google. He was defrocked and discharged after having been arrested for “forcible sodomy.” The kicker is he knowingly had AIDS at the time. And they let him plead to only 2 years (meaning parole after 8 months, I presume), whereas he could have been convicted with a life sentence.
FYI... he had been assigned to the Naval Academy. Ugh.
Vaquero: Why isn’t this a capital crime? It would be more in line wit justice to execute him than o castrate him.
BTW, why does the headline use the identifier “Former Catholic Priest” and not “former U.S Navy Lt. Commander”?
BTW, why does the headline use the identifier “Former Catholic Priest” and not “former U.S Navy Lt. Commander”?
= = = = = = = = = = =
Because he is a Catholic Priest that happened to be a USN Lt Commander.
Probably should have said Catholic Priest, former Navy Chaplain, ...etc...etc...
Why only 30 years?
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