NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
NEW BEDFORD, Mass.— A Fall River priest accused of storing thousands of pornographic images of children on his computer now faces the additional charge of exhibiting or posing a child in a sexual act.
The new charge against the Rev. Stephen Fernandes, pastor at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, was handed up by a grand jury last week and announced at his arraignment Tuesday in New Bedford Superior Court.
A spokesman for the Bristol district attorney's office declined to comment, saying the case file had been impounded.
Fernandes pleaded innocent to all the charges. He was released on $5,000 cash bail.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.