December 13, 2005

Priest convicted on child porn charge gets no jail time

LEESBURG (VA)
WVEC

12/12/2005

By MATTHEW BARAKAT / Associated Press

A Catholic priest convicted earlier this year on a child pornography charge received no jail time Monday after the prosecutor — who was a parishoner at the priest's former church — failed to seek a jail term.

Robert Brooks, 73, who had been a priest of St. John the Apostle in Leesburg, pleaded no contest in October to a count of attempting to possess child pornography.

Authorities said they searched his computer and found more than 100 images of child pornography; prosecutors said they allowed Brooks to plead guilty to a lesser charge because they could not prove the pornographic images actually depicted minors.

Posted by kshaw at December 13, 2005 01:22 AM