Washington Co. Prosecutor Won't Charge Priest with Child Porn Possession

By Scott Theisen
KAAL
January 29, 2014

http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S3302664.shtml?cat=10151

Photo: KSTP/File

A prosecutor has declined to charge a priest accused of possessing potential child pornography.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said Wednesday that investigators found no evidence of a crime when they examined computer files that once belonged to the Rev. Jonathan Shelley. His decision was first reported by Minnesota Public Radio.

St. Paul police had reopened the case after receiving a backup copy of the images from a man who acquired Shelley's old computer a decade ago.

Orput tells The Associated Press investigators from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, St. Paul police and his own child abuse specialist all looked at the files and agreed they're not child pornography.

Even if they were, he says, the statute of limitations has expired.

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