Posted on 12/01/2009 9:25:24 PM PST by Larry381
DALLAS—Matthew Bagert, 40, a former priest in Grand Prairie, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 51 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in April to one count of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Bagert, now a resident of Richardson, Texas, will also be required to register as a sex offender and must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on January 19, 2010.
In plea documents signed and filed with the Court, on February 1, 2005, Grand Prairie Police executed a search warrant at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church after receiving information that an associate priest saw, then Father Matthew Bagert, viewing an image of a young, nude boy on the rectory computer. Bagert admitted that he was responsible for the child pornography on the rectory computer and that he had used the Internet to find the images.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
“But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt 18:6)
crimes should be prosecuted....
Difficult to believe that a mere four-year sentence is sufficient.
But then I thought it better to commend them for letting the law take care of this creep instead of moving him somewhere else.
This is the way it should be, law enforcement actually doing something. Not turning a blind eye like they did thirty years ago. America was and is no better than Ireland on this score and obviously the pedophile apologists are still out in full force.
That's encouraging...Maybe they'll start cleaning their own house for a change...
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