Roman Catholic Bishop Released on Bail, CTV, October 1, 2009

Roman Catholic Bishop Released on Bail

CTV
October 1, 2009

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091001/lahey_charges_091001/20091001/?hub=TorontoNewHome

[with video]

A Roman Catholic bishop facing child-pornography charges in Ottawa has been released on bail after turning himself over to police.

Earlier on Thursday, Raymond Lahey landed at the Ottawa International Airport, where he was greeted by his lawyer, CTV's Graham Richardson reported.

Lahey later arrived at the Ottawa police headquarters, where he surrendered to police. Like any other person charged with a crime, Lahey was fingerprinted and an officer took a mug shot photo.

After his release Thursday afternoon, he departed in a dark sedan and offered no comment.

Raymond Lahey, former bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish, arrives at the Ottawa airport on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009.

Lahey was released with strict conditions and is not allowed to use the Internet or be near children. He will be in court on November 4 and will likely stay in a monastery in New Brunswick until then.

The 69-year-old Lahey faces charges for allegedly possessing and importing child pornography. The charges have not been proven in court.

Lahey recently served as the bishop of a Nova Scotia diocese until resigning from his position last weekend.

He was charged following a joint investigation by Ottawa police and the Canada Border Service Agency, which began last month.

According to an Ottawa police news release, Lahey was "referred for a secondary examination" after he landed at the Ottawa International Airport on Sept. 15.

Investigators examined his laptop computer and allegedly found images "that were of concern," police said. Lahey was released pending further investigation, and police later laid the two charges against him.

Joint investigation

In an interview with CTV, Ottawa police Const. Alain Boucher spoke briefly about the circumstances of the search at the airport last month.

Ronald Martin walks outside Our Lady of Fatima Church after meeting with Archbishop Anthony Mancini in Sydney, N.S. on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009.
Photo by Andrew Vaughan

"When he arrived in Canada, the Border Services examined his computer, which led them to believe that there may be something for us to examine," Boucher told CTV News outside the Ottawa police headquarters on Thursday afternoon.

"The computer was turned over to us, it was examined by our investigators and it took some time to figure out what kind of images were in there, what we were dealing with and then once that was settled, the charges were laid and subsequently a warrant was issued for his arrest."

Boucher said the search of Lahey's laptop at the airport "appears" to have been a random search.

Chris Kealey, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, said he would not comment on the case involving Lahey.

But he did say that it can take days to proceed with charges because of the time required to search computers and other electronic devices.

"In some cases of child pornography, we see thousands of images that have to be viewed by the investigators to determine if those images constitute the definition of child pornography," Kealey said.

He also said that in some cases, images may only be visible on small screens and in others, images are encrypted or buried in deleted files.

Kealey said the border agency can hold someone if they have grounds to do so, but a person would normally be released if an investigation was expected to take an "unreasonable amount of time."

Recent resignation

Lahey had stepped down from his position as bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia on the weekend, only days before police said that they had issued a warrant for his arrest.

In a formal resignation letter, Lahey said he was stepping down "for personal reasons."

He recently oversaw the $15 million settlement of a lawsuit involving about two dozen people who said they had been sexually abused by Catholic priests in the Antigonish community, as far back as 1950.

Lahey was not implicated in that case and had only been in the diocese for the past six years when he worked on the settlement.

He spoke about the settlement at a news conference in August.

"I want them to know how terribly sorry we are, how wrong this abuse was, and how we are now attempting to right those wrongs," Lahey said at the news conference.

"Money can never compensate fully, but we are trying ... to be fair, responsible, respectful and, most of all, compassionate."

Lahey previously served as a bishop of the Diocese of St. George in Newfoundland, where he worked for 18 years. He was appointed to his post in Nova Scotia in 2003.

The former bishop had also once served as a professor of theology at Memorial University in St. John's, and more recently served as the chancellor of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV's Todd Battis