Former priest sentenced to 30 years for child pornography

Sussex Living
February 13, 2017

http://www.sussexcountian.com/news/20170213/former-priest-sentenced-to-30-years-for-child-pornography

A former U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and ordained Catholic priest was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison for charges involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III of the District of Delaware.

John Thomas Matthew Lee, 51, of Millsboro, was sentenced Feb. 8 by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware, who also ordered Lee to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. On Nov. 16, 2015, Lee pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. He became a registered sex offender following his 2007 conviction in a general court martial of sexually assaulting another Naval officer while serving as a chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy. Lee has been in custody since his arrest Nov. 3, 2014.

According to admissions made in connection with the plea agreement, following a series of CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations special agents connected Lee with accounts that were being used to upload images of child pornography to several social networking sites. In executing a search warrant at Lee's Millsboro residence, agents found child-pornography images on Lee's electronic devices, including his phone. Using online messenger applications and text messages from his cell phone, Lee also induced juveniles to send him pornographic images of themselves. Lee uploaded at least one of these images to a publicly-accessible social media site. He also traded other images of child pornography online with other adults.

The Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Edmond Falgowski of the District of Delaware prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.