Area priest pleads guilty to child exploitation

A Catholic priest assigned to Sts. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown Township pleaded guilty on Monday, June 8, to child exploitation, federal officials said.

Rev. Mark Haynes faces a minimum mandatory
Rev. Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester,  faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison on federal child exploitation charges.

Rev. Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester, was charged in October by Chester County prosecutors with multiple felony counts of sexual abuse of children for possessing and disseminating child pornography for more than three years. Federal authorities took over the case in April.

Haynes admitted to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, transferring obscene material to a minor, distributing child pornography, possessing child pornography, and destroying or concealing evidence, a federal press release said.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10, and Haynes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life, possible fines, and at least five years up to a lifetime of court supervision, the release said.

The case was investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Chester County Criminal Investigative Division as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, the release said.

At the time of Haynes’ arrest, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said Haynes, who was ordained in 1985, served as parochial vicar at Sts. Simon and Jude. Since Hayne’s ordination, he has been assigned to eight parishes in the region: St. Ann, Phoenixville; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Doylestown; St. John of the Cross, Roslyn; Our Lady of Good Counsel, Southampton; St. Pius X, Broomall; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Morton; and Annunciation B.V.M., Havertown.

Hogan said the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which immediately placed Haynes on administrative leave and barred him from public ministry, and the parish cooperated fully with law enforcement.

The investigation began when Chester County Detective Joe Walton received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Walton learned that an Instagram account, a social media site that allows users to publish and share photographs, started disseminating images that included child pornography in 2010.

Walton traced the user name — Katie — to an email account registered to the church used by Haynes, who resided at the parish rectory and was posing online as a 16-year-old girl. During an interview with Chester County Detectives, Haynes admitted the illicit activity and acknowledged that he “was addicted to viewing the images and videos,” the criminal complaint said.

 

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