Former Navy chaplain pleads guilty in child porn case

 Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Matthew Lee is seen under a jacket as he was escorted in shackles from his general court martial at Marine Corps Base Quantico Virginia in 2007. The HIV-positive Navy chaplain was then sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to forcible sodomy and other charges. On Monday, Lee pleaded guilty in federal court in Delaware to production and distribution of child pornography. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Matthew Lee is seen under a jacket as he was escorted in shackles from his general court martial at Marine Corps Base Quantico Virginia in 2007. The HIV-positive Navy chaplain was then sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to forcible sodomy and other charges. On Monday, Lee pleaded guilty in federal court in Delaware to production and distribution of child pornography. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who sexually assaulted a Naval Academy midshipman years ago is facing up to 50 years in prison for child pornography.

John Thomas Matthew Lee of Millsboro pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Delaware to production and distribution of child pornography. Lee, who was indicted in June, faces sentencing on March 2.

Lee was court-martialed in 2007 on charges including forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive and he served time in prison.

Lee, who registered as a sex offender in Delaware in 2013, was arrested last November after a multistate investigation.

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Authorities say Lee uploaded child pornography to social networking sites and persuaded several juveniles to send him pornographic images of themselves.

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