Priest Sentenced in Wayne County Child Porn Probe

The Times-Tribune
August 24, 2017

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/priest-sentenced-in-wayne-county-child-porn-probe-1.2234257

A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey caught up in a Wayne County child pornography probe will spend 11? to 23? months in jail.

The Rev. Kevin A. Gugliotta, 55, of Mahwah, was sentenced Thursday by President Judge Raymond L. Hamill.

The sentence includes the more than 300 days Gugliotta already has spent in jail, so he could be eligible for parole in about 1? months, his attorney, James Swetz, said.

Gugliotta pleaded guilty in March to one count of dissemination of child pornography. In October, Wayne County detectives filed more than 40 felony counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography against him for uploading files from a Lehigh Twp. apartment he referred to as his “day-off place,” investigators said.

The Archdiocese of Newark removed Gugliotta from ministry and ordered he vacate his assignment at the Holy Spirit Church in Union, New Jersey, upon learning of the allegations against him. He remains out of ministry, and the Vatican was notified of the court developments to date, Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said. Gugliotta had been a priest in that archdiocese since his ordination in 1996.

Between July 9 and Aug. 29, 2016, Gugliotta uploaded 20 files depicting children engaged in sexual activity to internet chat rooms. Detectives tracked the activity back to Gugliotta.

Swetz said he was pleased with the sentence, which includes five years of probation after Gugliotta’s time in jail.

Gugliotta also must register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.

“This priest’s actions support the victimization of children and must be severely punished,” Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said in a statement. “With no one to watch child porn, our children would not be subject to the horrors of exploitation. I am very pleased he was caught.”

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