Former Harford priest accused of making child pornography

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun/ The Aegis

September 27, 2017

By Erika Butler

Former priest faces child porn charges

[See the entry for Cristancho in BishopAccountability.org’s database of accused U.S. clergy. See also the entry for Cristancho in the List of Accused Priests and Religious Brothers in the Baltimore Archdiocese as reformatted by BishopAccountability.org for easier viewing and printing.]

A Bel Air man, who years ago served as a priest at St. Ignatius Church in Hickory, has been charged with making and possessing pornographic photos involving young boys, according to court records.

Fernando Cristancho, 61, of the 800 block of Hayden Way, served as a priest from 1999 to 2002 at St. Ignatius Church in Hickory, according to a statement on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s website, www.archbalt.org.

Members of the Harford County Child Advocacy Center, which investigates allegations of child abuse, executed a search and seizure warrant Sept. 19 at Cristancho’s home, according to charging documents.

Detectives found photos of young boys on Cristancho’s electronic devices, including his cell phone, a computer in the house and on a Secure Digital (SD) memory card in a safe, according to the charging documents.

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