MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
KEVIN GILES and DAN BROWNING , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: October 4, 2013
Pete Orput calls for search into evidence from case of pornography on computer; Jeff Anderson calls for full-scale investigation.
The Washington County attorney has opened an investigation into allegations that an area Catholic priest was in possession of child pornography.
County Attorney Pete Orput said Friday that he had assigned two attorneys in his office “to take a hard look” at potential criminal charges against the priest related to his presence in Hugo, Mahtomedi, Stillwater and Bayport from 1995 to 2012
“There are no sacred institutions when it comes to criminal activity,” Orput said.
The allegations, which emerged as a police report in a St. Paul courtroom Thursday, say Catholic church officials knew the priest had been in possession of child pornography.
Orput said it was too early to say what charges, if any, might result from the investigation. Nobody claiming to be a victim had come forward in Washington County, he said, and attorneys would need to establish evidence of child pornography.
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