Former Catholic priest from Delaware sentenced for child porn

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    A former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest has been sentenced to 30 years in prison on federal child pornography charges. 

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Delaware announced John Thomas Matthew Lee, 51, was also ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. 

    The Millsboro man pled guilty to one count of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography on Nov. 16, 2015. He was put on the sex offender registry following a 2007 conviction in a general court martial of sexually assaulting a Naval Academy midshipman years ago, while serving as a Chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy. Lee has been in custody since his arrest on Nov. 3, 2014.

    Investigators connected Lee with accounts that were being used to upload images of child pornography to several social networking sites. Special agents also found tens of thousands of child porn images on several of Lee’s electronic devices at his Millsboro residence, including his phone, some of which were traded online with other adults. 

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    The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative led by the Dept. of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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