Chaplain who mentored Boy Scouts arrested

A youth chaplain at a Gastonia church who mentored Boy Scouts in south Charlotte was arrested Monday. Charles Franklin Knight, 62, faces six counts of third-degree exploitation of a minor. He is in the Mecklenburg County Jail. No bond was available.

On July 2, a woman told Charlotte-Mecklenburg police that Knight had material depicting sex acts with youths under 18, according to a police report. Investigators questioned Knight, who turned over some child pornography, which included “inappropriate Internet images,” the report said. Detectives also seized a laptop computer from his home on Harrowfield Drive in Charlotte.

Knight told police he had been involved with the Boy Scouts in south Charlotte for 50 years. He also co-coordinated a home-based youth program at Christ Church in Gastonia, said Brian Cornell, the pastor. The co-ed program, open to church members and Boy Scouts, helped parents teach their children to better understand what it means to be Christian.

Cornell was not sure how long Knight has been a member of the church. He told the Observer the church has a rule that there must always be two adults present during any interaction with children or minors and that church policies were followed. “This reminds us that we're doing ministry to a world that's hurting,” Cornell said.

It was unclear Monday what connection the woman who filed the police report had with Knight. She is not a church member, Cornell said. Police did not identify the south Charlotte church and Boy Scout troop Knight worked with in Charlotte. Anyone with information should call investigators at 704-336-2811.

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Here's some additional information... Seems that a priest may have taught Mr Knight the ins and outs of abusing small children:

Accused chaplain, priest have ties to same church

Mario Roldan
WCNC.com
A former Boy Scouts chaplain accused of child pornography spent time at the same south Charlotte church where a former priest is accused of molesting a teen.

“How much contact the two may have had is impossible for me to say,” said David Haines with the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

Charles Knight, 62, is accused of having child porn on his home computer.

"I'm a gentle person. Please let's not make this any worse," said Knight Tuesday while denying the charges against him.

In April, Father Robert Yurgel was extradited to Charlotte from New Jersey.

Yurgel is charged with molesting a teenage boy in 1999 when he was a priest at St. Matthew Catholic Church in the Ballantyne area.

Knight would visit the parish as a volunteer to teach cub scouts.

“I know that he (Knight) left and stopped doing that work around 2001,” Haines said.

Knight has not been accused of any wrongdoing while at St. Matthew. Police want parents of any child who may have had contact with Knight to ask questions.

"As far as Mr. Knight is concerned, if somebody has a question or a concern, even a comment that they want to share with the pastor or with the authorities, we say please come forward,” Haines said. Both Knight and Yurgel are awaiting trial.

Archdiocese releases more new documents in priest abuse cases
Excerpt - http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/priest_abuse_suits/
In a surprise move, Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny today released 2,000 pages of documents on priests accused of sexually abusing Oregon children.....(snip)
Bud Bunce, a spokesman for the Archdiocese, said the release had nothing to do with Pope Benedict XVI's trip to the United States or his apology for church's sex abuse scandal.
Portland attorneys who have filed sex abuse suits against the Archdiocese expressed bafflement over the unscheduled release, which comes less than 2 weeks after one round of failed mediation and a day before another is set to start.

"I don't know how the Archdiocese thinks," said attorney Kelly Clark. "I just don't get it."

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