PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A suspended Catholic priest should serve eight to 10 years in prison for receiving and possessing child pornography, federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing Sunday.
Bartley Sorensen, 63, was caught viewing a pornographic image by an employee at Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill a month after he was transferred there from Saint Anne Parish in Castle Shannon. He pleaded guilty in May, and is set to be sentenced Sept. 13.
Mr. Sorensen “searched for and acquired images of children being sexually abused for at least 10 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig W. Haller wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Regardless of whether Mr. Sorensen ever commits another crime, he should be sentenced to a serious prison term for the serious child exploitation crime he has already committed and the corresponding harm he has already caused his victims.”
Mr. Haller said that federal sentencing guidelines suggest an term of 97 to 121 months, calling that “a reasonable sentence.”
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