Former Doylestown Priest Accused of Sexual Assault in Confessional Booth

By Kara Seymour
Patch
March 4, 2015

http://patch.com/pennsylvania/newtown-pa/former-doylestown-priest-accused-sexual-assault-confessional-booth

A former Doylestown Catholic priest who is facing federal child pornography charges is now accused of sexual assault, after three parishioners said he molested them in the 1990s, according to reports.

One victim said Mark Haynes, 55, who previously served at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, forced her to perform oral sex on him in a Phoenixville church confessional booth, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Haynes already faces multiple felonies involving child pornography after being charged by Chester County authorities in October; he was arrested this week by the FBI on similar charges.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that three parishioners recently came forward with the allegations against Haynes, who is also accused of posting nude photos of children to Instagram as well as exchanging lewd emails with a 14-year-old girl, according to authorities.

Haynes served at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel from 1989-1991, according to the Archdiocese.

Since his ordination in 1985, Haynes has served at multiple parishes in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, including:

• St. Ann, Phoenixville
• Saints Simon and Jude Parish, West Chester
• Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Doylestown
• St. John of the Cross, Roslyn
• Our Lady of Good Counsel, Southampton
• St. Pius X, Broomall
• Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Morton
• Annunciation B.V.M., Havertown

He has also worked as a chaplain at Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster.

The first charges were filed by county officials last fall after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted a Chester County detective about an Instagram account that was sharing child pornography.

The account had shared two photos of a female under the age of 14, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office said. One was of the child posing nude and the other was a close-up image of the child’s genitals, according to authorities.

An e-mail address associated with the Instagram account was traced to Saints Simon and Jude Parish in West Chester, where Haynes was serving at the time. The rector identified the e-mail address as Haynes’, authorities said.

Officials said Haynes had received and posted a multitude of other images of child pornography and had been exchanging lewd emails with a 14-year-old girl while posing as a 16-year-old girl.

In October, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said that Haynes had been placed on administrative leave.