Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

US Priest Sentenced to 50 Years for Child Porn, bishop convicted for not reporting it

  • 13-09-2013 11:51am
    #1
    the culture of deference
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,196 ✭✭✭


    Interesting case from USA. I wish that judge was here, can you imagine the sentence some of the top management would receive.



    Mo. Priest Sentenced to 50 Years for Child Porn





    A Kansas City-area priest whose case led to a criminal conviction against his bishop will likely spend the rest of his life in a federal prison


    He was charged in May 2011 after police received a flash drive from his computer containing hundreds of images of children, most of them clothed, with the focus on their crotch areas.


    "Prison is hell," Ratigan said. "I know I deserve 15 years, but 50 years? Come on, I don't think so."


    His public defender, Robert Kuchar, argued that Ratigan's offenses weren't as bad as those of other child pornographers whose photos are more graphic and often include images of the victims participating in sexual acts.


    A computer technician working on Ratigan's laptop in December 2010 found hundreds of troubling images of young girls and reported it to officials with the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.



    Instead of turning the photos over to police or reporting suspicions about Ratigan, Bishop Robert Finn sent him away for psychiatric evaluation and later ordered him to stay at a convent where he could say Mass for the sisters and stay away from children.


    Jackson County prosecutors charged Finn and the diocese in October 2011 with one misdemeanor charge each of failing to report suspected child abuse, because of the five-month delay between when the photos were found on Ratigan's computer and when the diocese reported him to police.


    Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Finn and the diocese were required under state law to report the discovery to police because the images gave them reason to believe a child had been abused.


    Bishop Finn was convicted of one count last September and sentenced to two years of supervised probation. The charge against the diocese was dropped.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/prosecutors-seek-50-year-sentence-mo-priest-20241411


Comments

  • #2
    UDP
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,188 ✭✭✭UDP


    Did the computer technician get in trouble?


  • #3
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,499 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    He should have, if he had evidence of a crime and failed to report it.

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • #4
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,997 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    ninja900 wrote: »
    He should have, if he had evidence of a crime and failed to report it.
    There is no general legal obligation to report a crime in Missouri. (Or in Ireland. Or in most other places.)

    Missouri has a specific law requiring report of a "reasonable suspicion" that a child is being abused or neglected. But the law only applies to certain classes of people. Inconveniently for Bishop Finn, it applies to ministers of religion. Perhaps it doesn't apply to computer technicians?

    (Though, if it doesn't, perhaps it should, since computer technicians are perhaps a bit more likely than the rest of us to stumble across evidence of such a crime in the course of their work.)


  • #5
    Zen65
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Zen65


    He was charged in May 2011 after police received a flash drive from his computer containing hundreds of images of children, most of them clothed, with the focus on their crotch areas.

    There was more to this than clothed photos of kids! Firstly it appears these were photos he took himself, but also from the mom's quote it seems he may have done something more to lead to the kid getting withdrawn.

    Great to see a conviction for not reporting the case though. The church has no excuse for not knowing what to do!


  • #6
    Galvasean
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    I wish our own country was more like that. Lock 'em all up I say.


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    SebBerkovich
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,624 ✭✭✭SebBerkovich


    Galvasean wrote: »
    I wish our own country was more like that. Lock 'em all up I say.

    I think the US locks up so many people that their bound to get it right some of the time. While i'd love ireland to take more of a stand against all kind of crime. The US model scares the ba-jaysus out of me.

    That said... a pedophile priest is in jail and an enabler made accountable - good result


  • #8
    Gbear
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    SebBerkovich wrote: »
    I think the US locks up so many people that their bound to get it right some of the time. While i'd love ireland to take more of a stand against all kind of crime. The US model scares the ba-jaysus out of me.

    That said... a pedophile priest is in jail and an enabler made accountable - good result

    American sentences for violent crime are on the money. That's about all they get right though.


Advertisement