Former Deacon Faces Additional Child Porn Charge
By Sue Montgomery
MONTREAL — A West Island church deacon charged in December with distributing and producing child pornography had a third charge added to his file Monday. William Kokesch, 66, who has been free on $10,000 bail since his arrest, was charged with possession of child pornography. He chose to waive a preliminary hearing and go straight to trial. His next court date is Jan. 14. Police seized more than 2,000 computer files and messages left on Internet chat sites while executing search warrants in December at his home and the Beaconsfield church where he served as a deacon. During the bail hearing late last year, crown prosecutor Dominique Potvin had said Kokesch would be charged with possession of child pornography. While free on bail, Kokesch must abide by several conditions, including that he not be in the presence of children under the age of 18 unless an adult who has been informed of his bail conditions is present, not use any computers, cameras or cellphones that could be used to take photos, and remove Internet access from his home. Kokesch, who is married and has five grown children, was a permanent deacon at St. Edmund of Canterbury Church in Beaconsfield and a former communications director for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a former journalist who worked at several Montreal media organizations in the 1970s and 1980s, including The Gazette. The Archdiocese of Montreal removed him from all pastoral and ministry activity once they learned of the arrest. Kokesch was in court Monday for the hearing, which lasted no more than five minutes, and did not make any comments to members of the media. Contact: smontgomery@montrealgazette.com
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.