Priest Faces Porn Charges

Philly.com
October 25, 2014

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20141025_Priest_faces_porn_charges.html

The Rev. Mark Haynes of Chesco.

A priest at a Chester County parish is facing charges in the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography.

The county District Attorney's Office said the Rev. Mark Haynes, 55, a priest at SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown Township, was accused of posting sexually explicit images of a teenage girl on Instagram.

The investigation began last month, when law enforcement officials received information from the social media site about images of naked young girls.

Detectives traced the e-mail address associated with the account to SS. Simon and Jude, and eventually to Haynes, prosecutors said.

Investigators also found that Haynes received and posted other images, and exchanged lewd e-mails with an unidentified 14-year-old girl posing as a 16-year-old girl, prosecutors said.

In an interview this week, Haynes admitted distributing pornographic images of children through Instagram and e-mail, according to court documents. He told investigators he received about 100 explicit photos and sent about 50 images to others, the documents say.

He is in custody at the Chester County Prison with bail set at $200,000.

Haynes, who was ordained as a priest in 1985, has served at eight parishes in the Philadelphia suburbs, also including St. Ann in Phoenixville; Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Doylestown; St. John of the Cross in Roslyn; Our Lady of Good Counsel in Southampton; St. Pius X in Broomall; Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Morton; and Annunciation in Havertown.

He has also worked as a chaplain at Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster, at the Office for Youth and Young Adults, and at the Office of the Metropolitan Tribunal.

Anyone with information is being asked to call detectives at 610-344-4625. - Philly.com