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	Pedophile Suspected of Using Covina Church to Hide Porno Stash By Daniel Tedford San Gabriel Valley Tribune February 24, 2009 http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_11778023 Arrest Warrant Welton federal indictment COVINA - A convicted sex offender who has habitually used local churches to house and view child pornography has been indicted for the same offense. Richard Michael Welton, 48, of Covina was caught stashing pages of child pornography at the First Presbyterian Church in Covina in 2008, according to a court affidavit released by federal prosecutors Monday. The pages were found in 2007, but fingerprints led the FBI to Welton a year later. "There is a lot of darkness in the world," said the church's pastor, Andrea Messinger. "I am thankful nobody was hurt and it is coming to the conclusion that it is." If convicted, Welton faces a mandatory sentence of 15 years in a federal prison because of his prior conviction or child pornography, said a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles. Welton would break into the church, view the pictures and would stash more there each time, according to the affidavit. Some of the photos contained pornographic images of children as young as 4 years old, according to the affidavit. "While preparing for the (nursery to be recarpeted), a worker pulled a changing table away from the nursery wall and discovered a plastic bag containing a number of papers - some of the paper contained images of child pornography," Stephanie Benitez, a special agent with the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team, wrote in the affidavit. Since then the church has taken extra precautions in the ursery, Messinger said. No child is left alone and is accompanied by two persons or more at all times. Also, the church has tightened security and enhanced the alarm system to prevent further break-ins, Messinger said. Welton is a registered sex offender on parole since April 2005. He has been arrested 18 times since 1980 for burglary, obscene phone calls, possession of child pornography, and failure to register as a sex offender. In 1999, Covina police officers arrested Welton after they were able to trace an obscene phone call to Baskin Robbins from Holy Trinity Church in Covina. Welton was found there with a brown paper bag that contained child pornography. Welton was arrested again in 2002 after breaking into the Rolling Hills Covenant Church and using the church's computers to look at child pornography. Prior to his latest arrest, he was arrested in 2006 for a parole violation and served six months in jail.
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