November 29, 2005

Fernandes gets 8 months

BARNSTABLE
The Herald News

Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff Reporter 11/29/2005

BARNSTABLE -- A Diocese of Fall River priest was sentenced to eight months in jail Monday, two months after pleading guilty to storing hundreds of child pornography images on a computer and coercing a 16-year-old boy into filming himself performing a sex act.

Father Stephen A. Fernandes, 55, was charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and posing a child in a state of nudity.

Fernandes stored child pornography on his computer and used an online instant messenger service to pretend he was a 19-year-old woman in a successful effort to coerce a boy to perform a filmed sex act.

He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from jail.

Posted by kshaw at November 29, 2005 08:29 AM