Catholic priest pleads guilty to child porn charges

A suburban priest who created a fake identity as a teenage girl online to obtain nude pictures of his underage victims pleaded guilty in federal court today.

Mark John Haynes, 56, a former priest at Saint Simon and JudeChurch inWest Chester, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and charges of destroying evidence.

He could face up to 10 years in jail.

Hayneswas arrested in October 2014 after Chester County police tracked the source of child porn being posted on the Internet to the church.

Haynes had created the identity of a16-year-old girl, “Katie Caponetti,” which he used online to communicate with other minors and to exchange nude pictures and videos with them.

According to court documents, Haynes postedchild pornography on “Katie’s”Instagram account frominside Saint Simon and Jude Church. He also created a fake Facebook account and joined dating sites using the fake identity.

The Archdiocese suspended Haynes in October after investigators first confronted him.

The use of the “Katie” identity dated back to 2010. Investigators later located one of Haynes’ 13-year-old victims, who confirmedthat they had conversations with “Katie” about sexuality and in which the victim was convinced to send Haynes 10videos of herself masturbating.

Authorities believe Haynes communicated with as many as 25 minors.

Haynes was officially charged in February with possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.

After Haynes was arrested for child porn, three underage parishioners, including at least one female, accused him of sexual assault in the 90s while he was serving at a Phoenixville, Pennsylvania parish.

One female victim claimed Haynes forced her to perform oral sex on him in a confessional after she confessed to having oral sex with a teenage boy.

Those incidents are still under investigation.

Haynes is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 10.